


Cherry Blossom Rain

by Coocoo95



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Adventure, Assassination, Character Development, Class 3 E (Assassination Classroom), F/M, Family, Friendship, Karma x OC, Manga & Anime, Romance, School, assassination classroom - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2019-10-08 11:14:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 56,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17385434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coocoo95/pseuds/Coocoo95
Summary: "Don't take life too seriously. It's not like you're getting out alive."





	1. Violet

 

 

* * *

_"Enough! This is the third time you messed up the exact same part! You'll never improve this way." Ayami's piano instructor groaned as he was getting fed up with the fact that she failed at playing the piece she should've mastered months ago. Her hands left the keyboard and she placed them to rest in her lap. "Tchaikovsky would've thrown you out for playing like this!"_

_"I'm sorry."_

_"Sakura-san, you have to understand that mastering piano takes a lot of practice. Do you even know how your father would react to you not doing your best?" the brunette stayed silent, her tired gaze fixed on the piano keys. She knew all to well that her father's expectations were extremely high and that she had to work hard to meet them. But..._

_"I'll do better next time." She assured the tall man in his mid-fifties, who stopped in his tracks in front of her._

_"Why are you so emotionless?" he asked, fixing his glasses in the process, his stern gaze piercing through her skull. He knew all about Ms. Sakura's passing and he understood that her daughter had all the right to mourn, but dwelling in the past was never a good thing. "I don't feel any emotion when you play."_

_"I just..." her hands curled up into fists, wrinkling the hem of her skirt. "I don't feel like playing anymore."_

_"That's nonsense. You've come too far to just quit. From the top, again!" her instructor clapped his hands furiously and inspected her closely, ready to fix her mistakes. The girl sighed, fixed her skirt, sat up straight and started all over again._

* * *

Dark shadows engulfed the spacious room of the Sakura residence, every inch in cold blackness. 

A small figure of a girl lay curled up on a bed that was too large for her petite body, her long brown hair fanned out behind her, disheveled all over the bed, all the way up so that it was even above her head as well, the ends curling into tiny swirls. She kept turning and jerking around in her distressed sleep, letting some small whimpers escape from her lips a few times.

Eventually, her piercing violet irises flew open as she gasped loudly, cold sweat covering her delicate, pale skin.

After regaining what little of her composure she could muster, the girl rolled over onto her side, reaching for the lamp at her bedside table. A sigh of relief escaped her lips as the shadows dispersed, and she found the atmosphere a little lighter. She immediately reached for a glass of water on the nightstand and drank it rapidly, calming herself down. Glancing at her alarm clock, her eyes, fuzzy with tiredness, read the numbers 3:05. 

She always heard people at school talk about how much they loved to sleep, longed for it even, but she couldn't see the slightest hint of satisfaction in it. Instead of regenerating her body, sleeping with these constant nightmares wore her out physically and mentally more than anything else. She had tried countless methods, taken unlimited medicines, which were guaranteed to soothe the relentless demons that haunted her once peaceful slumber and turned it into a world of horror, but no results arose from those methods.

Ayami sat silently on the bed for a few minutes, pondering about what to do. There were still about 4 hours before her alarm was supposed to go off and she highly doubted she was going to fall back asleep. She didn't most of the time. Over the many sleepless months, she had discovered that the method which was most effective during these times was to leave her lamp lit and try to meditate rather than sleep. It was a method that was presented to her by an overly-energetic school doctor during one of the check-ups. So, as she had done many times before, she closed her eyes and tried to stay conscious, thinking about anything aside from the past that attempted to draw her back into it and lock her away within its troubles.

She thought of the new cherry blossom tree that her father paid some people to plant it in their backyard a week ago. It was in its full blossom now and was perfectly visible from her window. The sudden breeze reminded her of the usual late April's storms that were forecasted to start one of these days. Another thought crossed her mind.

She had to go return to school today. Kunugigaoka Junior High, a place where only grades mattered. She had already missed about three weeks of classes and was requested to return, or she'd get expelled. The school was not a happy place for her and many could relate.

Ayami was born into the Sakura family, a wealthy family of important status in Japan and also worldwide. But because of her important status, everyone tried to get along with her, hoping to manipulate her to get some money or at least get mentioned to their parents, her father mostly, who was the owner of a huge company. Soon after the little kids realized they can't just get money from her, they started bullying her; telling her how boring and emotionless she was. 

It was around the age of 10 when she developed her _bad habit_.

After having a bucket of ice-cold water dropped on her head, she came to a realization. She was weak. She was lonely and felt pathetic, so she put up a bold front and started verbally abusing people for no reason. She became feared and no one ever touched her again, no one ever pulled on her hair again. She grew strong, so when she entered Kunugigaoka Junior High, people built up respect for her. But Ayami knew it was all a facade. The words her classmates kept telling her were true.

_She was so very boring._

This school had a special arrangement. Classes from A to D are considered as the best, the elite, and if you're recognized as a failure to keep up with the harsh requirements, you get sent to the 3-E class in your final year. The E-Class building is located in the closeby mountains, and the students are considered as outcasts, the underdogs. As a punishment for failing to keep their focus or causing any kind of trouble, students who aren't fit enough to continue studying in the main building, finish their second year with the E-Class ticket in their hands.

The result of not showing up these three weeks was a permanent spot in the E-Class. The school board required results and proper school spirit at all times. If you can't show that, you're fit to go to the woods with the rest of the E-Class. While she had the grades to keep her spot at the main campus and was one of the top students at the school, many teachers decided it would be best for her to learn some humility and build up some respect. She didn't only disrespect her classmates of the A-Class, but also put a lot of the teachers in uncomfortable situations, resulting in several visits to the principal's office.

In the end, Ayami had fortunately fallen asleep again, only to be woken up a few hours later by the annoying sound of her alarm clock ringing furiously. She lazily opened her tired violet eyes and reached out to silence the digital clock. 

At 7:15, she groggily pushed herself up from her mattress and forced her chilled legs out from the sheets and onto the cold floor, her white, button-up shirt barely sufficient to cover her midthighs.

Ayami slowly walked over to her closet, taking a fresh pair of underwear and strode over to her bathroom where she took a shower. Once she dried herself off, she walked back to her closet, putting the uniform on.

She knew this year will be different from what she was used to. No more people kissing up to her; not trying to get on her bad side. The students of E-Class were often bullied and she wanted to be prepared for that. They might not even take her seriously anymore.

She could not crack.

And if she did, if this year ended up being a complete disaster and a waste of her time... then... she was going to end it. She was going to kill herself by the end of March.

March 31st.

That's how long she'd given herself.

"7:15..." she mumbled quietly, sighing as she remembered she had school today. Reaching for the glass of water on her nightstand with a tired arm, she slipped off the bed; her feet touching the cold floor, but she paid no attention to it. She slowly drank the cold water that woke her up and then placed the empty glass back on her nightstand. 

The brunette grabbed a new pair of underwear and walked into the bathroom, carefully stepping in the shower.

Slowly after that, she walked over to her big black closet and opened it, eyeing her school uniform. Ayami has been attending Kunugigaoka Junior High School for the past two years. It was her last year now. She had to think about which High School she wanted to go, get her grades back up, had to ace her entrance exams, she had to graduate... and she had to spend this year in the E-Class. 

Her eyes slowly rolled over to glance at her digital clock, widening as her brain processed the number written on the screen.

7:45.

_She was late._

* * *

Whoever thought of placing the E-Class on top of the mountain had to love exercise. The E-Class building was at least 15 min away from the main campus, and on top of a hill for that. It was either that or just the fact that Ayami wasn't exactly the best hiker. She stopped for a moment as she climbed the last set of stairs, taking in the sight of the old wooden school building that was cut off from the rest of the main campus...her new class. Her eyes rolled unconsciously and her fingers tightened around her schoolbag as she entered the building.

Before she entered the classroom, she halted in place; making sure she looked presentable by straightening up her uniform and brushing through her hair with her fingers. Then she took a deep breath, put her head high. This year was going to be different. She knew that. She prepared herself for every possible scenario. The key was to make a good first impression. 

 Hmph. As if anyone wanted to become friends with her.

She was way too boring.

She opened the sliding door of the 3-E Class, her eyes widening at the sight of a bunch of men, dressed in black. They all looked at the shocked girl whose mouth dropped as she took notice of the weird-looking yellow creature standing behind them. It had yellow tentacles that stopped moving the moment she came in. He was much taller than the men beside him.

"Ah! You must be the last student! I knew I had a class of twenty-seven. How delightful of you to join us!" Ayami almost blacked out. Not only that there was a weird creature in the classroom, it even knew how to talk. She skeptically looked around the room. The other students seemed to be as confused as she was. She glanced at the strict looking man, who opened his mouth to say something, but the peculiar-looking varmint beat him to it.

"Hello! How are you!? So, I'm the one who blew up the moon," the creature spoke confidently.

The whole class sweatdropped. Ayami did not know how to react. Not in a million years had she expected something like this. She did not prepare for _this_ scenario.

"Next year I intend to do the same to planet Earth! But nevermind that now! I'M GONNA BE YOUR NEW TEACHER. ISN'T THAT EXCITING!?"

Ayami's hand left the door and fell limp by her side. She wasn't quite grasping the hold of the situation. So without a word, she turned 90 degrees on her heels and exited the classroom, slamming the door loudly behind her. You know, like any rational person would.

"Well that didn't play out the way it did in my head," the creature said, scratching the side of his ball-like head as the rest of the class sweatdropped. The man in the black suit facepalmed. "Bring the girl back," he ordered his female coworker who stood the closest to the door. She gave him a small nod and exited the classroom.

Not even a minute after, the strict-looking woman kicked the door open, one of her hands on the back of Ayami's neck and the other one holding her hands behind her back. "Unhand me, you malicious woman! How dare you?! Do you even know who I-AH!" the woman tightened her grip on Ayami's neck. "Ugh fine, fine! I'm going! Stop!" she immediately let her go. Ayami huffed and flipped her hair over her shoulder, straightening her posture and regaining the cold aura.

So much for first impressions.

_'I blew it.'_

She carried herself with grace, each movement of her delicate form defined. There was a proudness to her features, complementing the fierceness in her violet eyes, that held an air of importance. It didn't take long to figure out that she very likely came from a wealthy family, a boy with blue hair tied into two high ponytails noted, her demeanor seeming to express superiority. How much of this was a facade or inherited, he could not say. The woman escorted the brunette to the empty seat by the window behind the green-haired girl and returned her bag. Ayami rolled her eyes in annoyance.  "Ah, Nakajima-san; you didn't have to be so violent." The octopus-like creature said. Ayami became pretty creeped out by this point. Was he wearing a suit? Like the guys who hand out weird flyers at the street? If this was a suit... why did it look so... slimy?

The man with a stern gaze cleared his throat, "As I was saying...My name is Tadaomi Karasuma and yes. This is your new teacher."

_Huh?_

"And your mission is to kill him before the end of March."

_WHAT._

"Excuse me, but is this some kind of joke? Cause if that's the alien who blew up the moon-" An orange-haired boy started. Blew up the moon? That thing? No way. Ayami started questioned her sanity by this point. Was she dreaming?

"ERARATATATAA EXCUSE ME!! I AM AN EARTHLY BORN AND BRED THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" The octopus freaked out and some steam came out of the sides of his round, yellow emoji-like head. The man who introduced himself as Mr. Karasuma sighed.

"I'm not going to discuss the unimportant details, but I'll just say he's telling the truth. His threat is all too real. As of this coming March, this creature who smashed the moon will obliterate the Earth. Apart from you, the only people who know this are the world's leaders. If word of this leaks out to the public, we'll have a widespread panic on our hands. He must be terminated soon and with extreme prejudice." he reached in his suit's inner pocket and pulled out a green knife, jabbing it at the creature. But at inhuman speed, the huge yellow octopus dodged it. "Which means that you must become assassins." the octopus pulled out a pair of tweezers and started plucking the man's eyebrows.

What the-?

"YOU'LL NOTICE THAT HE'S INCREDIBLY FAST! And for some reason, he likes grooming eyebrows! Anyways," he continued. "You're looking at a being so powerful he can obliterate more than half of the moon in seconds. His top speed is noted as Mach 20! In short, if you don't kill him, we'll all die."

"He makes it all sound so grim, doesn't he? Cheer up! I've made your government an offer: Stop making fools of yourselves trying to kill me, I said and let me teach Class 3-E at this noble institution!" the creature said cheerfully. Some students' eyes twitched as he finished the sentence. Why would a creature like that want to teach kids? 

Karasuma spoke up again: "We didn't have much of a choice... We have no idea what his motives are. but we agreed on the condition, that none of you students will be harmed in any way. We have some advantages in this situation. First, we'll know his whereabouts on the weekdays, which is something. Second, he'll be in close range to thirty people with a goal to kill him."

"Do the deed, and you get ten billion." That sure got the students' attention. "It's only fair. Kill him, save the Earth. That doesn't deserve a life on the streets. He doesn't think you can do it, use that. These green stripes indicate he's feeling superior. We... _have some experience with that."_  The creature was waving his tentacles around lightly, his face engulfed in green stripes. His permanent Cheshire grin started to annoy most of the students and they wanted to wipe it off his ball-like face so badly. Their eyebrows were furrowed and the whole class started shooting daggers at the monster.  
"It's all on you. find the cracks in this smug bastard's defenses and exploit them. The weapons you'll be provided with are harmless to humans but extremely fatal to him. And one more thing. Let's keep this between us. We don't want any family members freaking out. Decide if you want our home blasted into space dust."

"Yeah let's just dump it on the kids since you don't seem to be competent enough to do it yourselves." Ayami looked at the man in the eyes, not sure how to feel about the whole situation. What was she supposed to think? Was she supposed to be scared? All this confusion made her angry. She didn't like being left in the dark with almost no info about the subject. "Honestly, what do you expect from some Junior High kids? We're not the ones who were trained for things like this. Don't you think you should try a little harder? Or are you afraid that an octopus will flatten your home?" The creature stiffened at her comparison, but then relaxed again and scratched his head. 

"I do resemble an octopus a bit," he hummed to himself. The classroom sweatdropped.

 "He only figured this out _now_?" somebody pointed out.

Again. 

Habits are hard to break, Ayami knew that, but she couldn't help herself. She always regretted everything she said. But being unable to properly interact with people, she had no choice. It was either staying quiet and seeming weak or being proud and hurting people. The man, however, seemed unfazed by her comment.

"You're the only hope we've got. He decided to teach willingly. Putting himself in the line of fire by choice. We've tried nearly every option on the list by now and still failed. You're not in this alone. Of course, the government will still keep trying to think of new ways to bring him down, but we need you to cooperate. If we allow him to live, come March, Earth will be annihilated. The moon is proof of how powerful he is in case you need a reminder." Ayami leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Wonderful."

"That's just about it, I believe. What do you say we hit the books and make the final year of your lives a productive one?" The new teacher of Class 3-E said cockily.

Karasuma and his co-workers left the classroom only a few moments later. "So let's start with the introduction. We can't miss the most important part right? I'm sure some of you don't know each other yet. So we'll do a simple exercise. You'll state your name and tell us what class you attended last year. It'll also be appreciated to explain why you ended up here. Let's start at the front please!"

"Umm, alright. I'm Kataoka Megu, I was moved here from the B class since my grades dropped."

Ayami suddenly felt an unknown feeling in her chest. Maybe excitement? No! She couldn't be excited about having to kill someone. Even if it wasn’t a human being.

'Maybe this year won't be that bad,' she thought as she inspected the black gun she was given and supported her head with the other hand. This could bring back the colors to her world. Maybe this could be her chance to learn how to properly interact with people. Maybe, this classroom could save her. But on the other hand, did it matter that much? It was going to be over in a year either way. Kill him or the Earth will be no more. By the end of the year, she would at least had something to write about in her CV. If she wouldn't kill herself before that.

* * *

Nakamura suddenly fired a gun. 

Everyone's heads snapped upfront only to see the teacher holding the pink BB with two white chalks right in front of his eye. 

"Nakamura! I distinctly remember saying no guns discharging in the classroom!" Sir scolded the blonde. His face became red, steam puffing out as his yellow tentacles waved from side to side angrily. Rio rubbed the back of her head and apologized.

"Back row, young lady! Think about what you've done."

"Hmm... okay."

He continued his English lesson and Ayami became extremely bored and tired. She's been fluent in English ever since she was a kid. Her mother used to torture her with these horrible exercises, that were now so easy to her, that she could've done them in her sleep. She looked out of the window as the memories of her mother came back to her.

The woman with golden locks was the foreign language arts professor at the Tokyo University, fluent in at least 15 languages. While Ayami's household was known to be very strict, her mother wasn't. She was the only source of love the brunette would ever get, and even that was limited. The two studied together, her mother, being an excellent teacher, showed her the correct way to study and intrigued her love for books and knowledge.  She always pushed her daughter to try her best and talked to her in English, French, Japanese and Korean. By the time Ayami finished middle school she was fluent in all of them. And she loved it. She spoke Korean and Japanese with her father, trying to impress him. She'd only get a mere hum of satisfaction out of him, though. Hanging out with her mother was the only escape she had to hide away from her problems. She felt safe in her presence until she died.

That's when everything started going downhill. Ayami usually wasn't the type to mourn or be overly emotional, but when she found out about the news, she broke down completely. Her facade came crashing down on her, so she spent that month after spring practicing and building her confidence back up. She wasn't skipping without a reason, she liked to call it self-care. If she wanted to survive in this kind of world, she had to be strong.

_"The next hanami festival we go to will most likely be your last."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because the world will end next spring."_

Her eyes darkened at the thought. They never got to go to another hanami festival. How did she end up thinking about that again? She had to stop it or she was going to burst out crying. And she promised herself that very morning she'd be strong. She had to move on. She was strong, she could make it on her own. A thought lingered on the back of her mind; did her mother know about the octopus? She knew there was only a year left... Did she know him?

"Sakura-san?" Ayami turned her head to her right to face the boy with dark blue hair, Sugino Tomohito, who was staring at her. She raised her eyebrows in confusion and he motioned her to pay attention. "Sakura-san! You're spacing out. Please focus, it's only the first day!"  
_"Sorry. I was just wondering if you could give me some advanced exercises, I'm bored."_ She spoke fluently in English with a sharp American accent. 

"Right! Of course! I'm very excited to push your limits even further! Here are some puzzles from the high school finals that seemed to be the cause of quite a few problems between the students."  Ayami could swear she saw his grin get wider as he rushed to her and started marking the pages of a new book, instructing her to solve the problems. She rolled her eyes at his super-speed and took out a pencil to rewrite the questions in her notebook. It didn't take a moment for him to return to what he was saying earlier; asking Yuuma Isogai a question. His tentacles turned different colors and he explained what a relative pronoun was.

Ayami shook her head in disbelief with a small smile and started solving the exercises. He was way too extra.

Soon lunchtime rolled around as the school bell chimed through the building and the giant octopus teacher decided to go to Taiwan to eat something. He told everyone that they were free to try any assassination they wanted and if they already had something in mind, they could call him.

Ayami closed her notebook and put it back in her bag. She took out her lunch box and started peeling the small tangerine that she had packed for lunch. Suddenly, the girl sitting in front of her turned back to talk to her. 

"Hey! You’re Sakura-san, right? Your English is awesome! Do you think you could teach me to get rid of my accent?"

"There's nothing wrong with your English from what I heard," she answered coldly. The green-haired girl looked a bit taken aback for a moment but then smiled widely. "Well anyway, I still want to improve. I'm Kayano Kaede. Kaede to you haha."

"Ayami." She said, plopping the piece of the tangerine in her mouth.

_'Do not be rude to her. Don't be rude to her.'_

"So are you up for some tutoring? I really want to make some progress." It's not like she didn't have experience with tutoring. It was just that she didn't want to spend even more time studying. She had to get her grades up too. "I guess it would be okay. It's not like I have anything else to do."

"Do you wanna have lunch with Nagisa, Sugino, me and Nakamura? I figured you'd wanna make some friends since you're new," she asked with a sweet smile. Maybe a little too sweet.

"Uh-sure," she responded. Kayano then clapped her hands in excitement and strode over to her neighbor Nagisa Shiota, who was talking with Rio Nakamura, and Sugino Tomohito. She happily told them the news. Ayami rose her brows as they all looked at her. Sugino and Nagisa smiled at her, while Rio put an amused grin on her face as some weird ideas probably ran through her head. They walked over to her and introduced themselves once again.

They turned their tables around and put them together so they could have enough space to eat their lunches. Kayano sat opposite of Ayami, flashing her a small smile and then pulled out her lunch. The girl was seriously full of smile. "So what's your reason for being here?" The boy, Nagisa asked. "I extended my spring break and the school board didn't like it."

The group sweatdropped. "Why?"

"I don't think that's something you should be concerned with," she spat.

_Great._

_***_

"So, is this all you're having for lunch?" Sugino asked her, eyeing her lunch box that consisted of two tangerines and an apple.

"Yeah, I eat light so I don't get sleepy during the afternoon classes," she explained as she pulled out a knife to slice the apple. "Are you sure? You can have some of mine if you want to." Nagisa offered. "Don't worry," she waved her hand to reassure him it was fine. "I'm fine with this."

"Suit yourself... so what do you all think about this assassination thing? Are we actually doing this?" Rio asked the group.

"I guess we could try... I don't want to die yet." Sugino rubbed his temples.

"You're from A-Class, aren't you? Shouldn't you be filling our heads with ideas?" Nakamura smirked. The brunette only narrowed her eyes at her. "I guess so. If we get to know him well enough, we can use that knowledge against him." Ayami explained. Everyone looked at her. She was trying to not insult them again and give advice. And she knew she had to talk if she wanted to get better with her social skills. "He may not be an ordinary human being, but he’s bound to have some weak spots."

"So you're suggesting that we should keep track of his weaknesses?" Kayano then asked, clapping her hands in excitement. "Yeah. That's it. The start may be hard though, but then when we get enough information we'll be able to connect the dots."

"That's actually a really great idea!" Sugino exclaimed. "How did you come up with it?"

"It just popped up."

"Wow, you're amazing Sakura-san. But who's going to keep track of his weaknesses?"

_'Amazing?'_

_'I don't think so.'_

"I-I can do it," Nagisa spoke up. "I think my observation skills are pretty good."

"Then I think that's it." Kayano clapped her hands together and smiled. seriously, the girl was made of smiles. she was too good to be in a class like this. "How do you feel about becoming assassins?"  
"I honestly haven't thought about it. This day has been one heck of a weird day."  
"I agree. How are we supposed to kill a monster?" Nakamura added. "Isn't this a little too much pressure? We have to get our grades up as well. I mean we are only kids."

They thought about it. Yes, they were only kids, but it was not fair to think they were incapable. These kids got sent up there to the E-Class because the whole school thought they were stupid and worthless. E-Class was the last resort for the students that didn't want to drop out. But they usually had no bright future. The chances of succeeding were extremely low. This creature was fast, smart and strong; a triple threat. The only thing they had was the support of the government and safety in numbers. There were twenty-six students and only one teacher. Though, they were expecting another one to show up as soon as his suspension ended. 

The pressure really was high. They could either kill the damn monster or watch the whole planet die. 

Yeah, maybe it will be hard, but the octopus was pretty funny. It could be worse than this.

***

The next morning, the brunette walked to the E-Class building again, but before she opened the door, she took a deep breath. Everything seemed so unreal, it felt like she was in a dream or a movie. So in hopes to confirm her doubts, she entered the classroom and walked over to her desk, placing her bag on top. He wasn't there.

Maybe it really was a dream.

Then, suddenly, a groan left her lips as a cheerful voice echoed through the room: "I'M BAACK! LET'S GET READY FOR CHEMISTRY!"

* * *


	2. Baseball Lover

"Yo, Nagisa!"

A voice called behind the blue-haired boy. He turned around in his seat only to see Terasaka, Yoshida, and Muramatsu standing behind his desk, laughing. "Look alive little man! Time to put our money where our mouth is and get this done." 

They motioned the boy to follow them outside on the rocky stairs where the trio sat down, leaving Nagisa to stand in front of them. "So we know the octopus's face changes color depending on what mood he's in. Have you been keeping track like I asked? Gimme the specks."

"You got it. I guess for starters, green stripes mean he's feeling cocky so that's something. When we give a wrong answer his face goes dark purple. When we answer correctly, bright red. What's interesting that every day after lunch without fail-"

"Blablabla, whatever. We got more than enough. When his guard's down, that's when we make our move. Well at least, you do."

"Yeah... about that, I-" he tried to get himself out of it, but with no luck.

"DON'T START! We've been over this. Worried about your transcript? Wake up, dude! WE'RE 3-E!! Everyone expects us to be thugs and murderers anyway!" Terasaka shouted, putting his arm around Nagisa's shoulders."You know what the E stands for, right? End of the line. Think they shuttle up this mountain every day for the view? Sorry to burst your bubble man, but society doesn't want us. When do nobodies like us have a shot at the kind of cash at stake here? This is our one-way ticket out of the boonies! NO GUTS, NO GLORY. Let this be your moment to shine!" Terasaka pulled out a red leather galore; the kind that one would usually put marbles in; and shoved it into Nagisa's hands. "Man up. Go make a name for yourself, hmm?"

"BEST OF LUCK!" he laughed as he and his two companions made their way back to the campus. "Oh and Nagisa?" The boy looked at them once again."Try not to blow it."

Not even a minute later, Koro-sensei landed right beside him, holding a giant missile. "Hello there! I'm back!" he greeted and showed a whole coconut in his mouth."Okay... So uh, wha-what's with the missile?"

"A souvenir from a strike force that tried to bring me down over the sea of Japan. Nothing much."

"If you say so...Must be lonely spending your life in the crosshairs." 

"Quite the opposite actually:" the octopus pointed his tentacle at his chest. "It reminds me of how amazing I am."

Something ringed in Nagisa's head and his eyes widened.

"Now then. Inside for 5th period please!" the creature told him as he walked by the bluenette his smile as permanent as ever. _"Sure,"_ Nagisa replied quietly, his head now hung low.

_'There's no denying it. He is amazing. Confident. Capable. Powerful enough to make people stand up and take notice. Even if they are trying to kill him. He's everything I'm not. Everything I'll never be. No matter how hard I try. Or how many chances I'm given.'_

His ex D-Class teacher now flashed before his eyes, reminding him how the headmaster lowered his evaluation because Nagisa couldn't keep up.

_'I can do this. I'm as invisible to him as I am to everyone else.'_

And so, he went back in for class.

"Oki Doki!! Your assignment this afternoon is to compose a short poem. The final line should read: _'Was tentacles all along'_ " 

"WHAT!?"

The quiet girl, Kanzaki lifted her hand. "Excuse me sir; really?" she asked. "Really. When you've completed the assignment kindly bring it forward. You will be graded on creativity, _grammar_ and overall; the beauty of expression." 

He cleared his throat and continued. "Here's an example:"

_"Not the storm of gardens snow_

_of flowers moving on;_

_but sprouting there instead_

_was tentacles all along."_

"Yeah, because that makes a whole lotta sense, sheesh," Isogai mumbled.

"You may go home once you're finished!" The class groaned in response. Was he serious? "What!? But sir; was tentacles all along?"  
"Should get those little synapses sparking and the imagination slithering," then he made some noises that cannot be described. At all.

"Could you please knock that off!!" Maehara shouted.

Ayami sighed and flipped the page of her notebook and started writing... She had no idea where to start. Her eyebrows furrowed at the empty page and she sighed in frustration.

"Um, question!!" Kayano raised her hand.

"Oh, of course. Fire away Kayano!"

"Do we always have to call you sir? You haven't given us your name and I think we need one. I mean it'd be kinda awkward if we don't call you anything." he flustered.

"Ahh... Well now, hmmm, trouble is: I don't have the sort of name you just give to people. Why not pick one for me!?"  
"WHAT COULD GO WRONG?" Maehara scoffed.

"Okay..."

"I'll take a short break, while you pick up your pens." he turned a bright pink color and sat on a chair, lightly dozing off. A few minutes into his so-called nap, Nagisa stood up, notebook in his hands and a knife behind it. "Oh, Nagisa! Are you done already?"

_'Every day after lunch, without fail, he gets sleepy. I can tell he checks out when his face turns pink. Kayano's question threw him off, he seems distracted. All signs point at this being the right moment. Prep school flunkies know how to slip between the cracks. it's what we do. Parents and teachers are all yapping at us to apply ourselves. Apply ourselves.'_

He suddenly jabbed the knife at his teacher. But he was stopped immediately though. "What did I say about thinking outside the box?"

_'Alright then. Here goes nothing.'_

That's when he jumped in his ~~arms~~ -tentacles without a word and gave him a hug, a small, calm smile on his face. There were no emotions, no fear to be seen. The octopus froze when he saw a bright green grenade wrapped around his neck. But before he could do a thing- it exploded.

The class cried in fear and hurried to protect themselves as anti-monster BBs flew across the front of the room. Terasaka and his gang shot their hands in the air with excitement. "OH YES! 10 BILLION HERE WE GO!"

"Nagisa!" Kayano cried, scared to leave her seat.

"SAYONARA LOSER!" The trio kept laughing like some kind of sick maniacs, congratulating themselves.

"You jerks! What the hell have you done!?" Maehara lashed out at Terasaka.

"Never saw a suicide bomber coming, did ya!?"

"TERASAKA! What did you make Nagisa do?!

"What? I'm sorry, but do you have a better idea? I gave him a modified toy grenade, filled with those stupid BBs. And a spoonful of gunpowder, so they'd scatter at a high-enough speed.

Ayami, on the other hand, ignored the three bastards and stood up to see if the boy was still alive. She kneeled over to the place where what she assumed the octopus's body was and moved it over to see the boy, unconscious on the floor. There was some kind of a membrane over him which left the poor boy without a scratch.

"Don't worry, it wasn't enough to kill anybody. I'll pitch in on his medical bills." Terasaka kneeled over to see it closer. "Wow, he doesn't even have a mark on him! And what the hell is this membrane!? Did the body-"

"It's not a body. I shed my skin once a month!" Nagisa then woke up and, with Ayami's help, got out of the membrane. "Are you okay?" She asked him and offered him a hand to pull him up. He nodded and before he could take her hand, looked up, to see his teacher, on the ceiling, his eyes shining bright red.

"I wrapped it around your classmate to protect him from the blast!" The whole atmosphere suddenly got really dark. It was terrifying in fact. "I'm gonna guess and assume you didn't see this coming."

"TERASAKA. YOSHIDA. MURAMATSU." His face became pitch black, and his teeth so sharp one could compare them to kitchen knives.

_'Okay. That's a face we haven't seen before. Pitch black must mean-PISSED!'_

"THIS WAS YOUR DOING! WASN'T IT?!"

"W-Who? U-Us!?"

"It was all Nagisa!!" the octopus disappeared in a cloud of dust, only to return less than a second later, throwing the nameplates of everyone's houses on the floor.

"HERE'S THE DEAL, KIDDOS. THE AGREEMENT I HAVE WITH YOUR GOVERNMENT FORBIDS ME FORM HARMING YOU. BUT. THERE'S A CATCH. IF ANY OF YOU PULL ANOTHER IRRESPONSIBLE STUNT LIKE THIS AGAIN, THERE'S NOTHING THAT SAYS I CAN'T HARM SOMEONE ELSE! FAMILY, FRIENDS, EVERYONE IN THE WORLD EXCEPT FOR YOU IF I FEEL LIKE IT!"

Ayami felt her heart drop at his words. Chills ran all over her body when a realization hit her like a truck. It was going to be way harder than she thought. He was a supernatural being, intending to destroy the Earth by next March. Whether there was a reason by his threat or not, Ayami felt a strange feeling of uncertainty dwell in her stomach. 

 _'We can't run. We can't hide.'_ Nagisa thought. _'Slipping between the cracks isn't an option. The only way out; is to kill him.'_

"Go on! Frighten us! I ain't afraid of no squid! Where do you go off blowing up the moon! We got rights too ya know! Call us irresponsible! We're just defending ourselves!"

He suddenly returned to normal, his face bright red, telling Terasaka is right. His voice was cheerful again. "Of course! I know that! I'm not calling you irresponsible for trying to kill me. Nonono!" he patted Nagisa's head. "As a matter of fact, Nagisa here gets full marks for technique. His composure was simply outstanding!"

 His gaze suddenly shifted to the trio, which made them jump. "However! None of you cared if he was injured! Not even Nagisa himself it seems. Students with that attitude aren't fit to assassinate anyone!" Now he turned to the whole class, trying to regain their trust. "You must believe yourself worthy of your target. That means taking pride in what you do. In yourselves. And each other! All of you are more than just what you seem to be!"

He turned back to the boy. "Here's a puzzler for you Nagisa! Given that I have no intention of being killed, though of course, I have every intention of enjoying our time together before the planet goes KABOOM; what exactly are you going to do about it?" Nagisa stayed still for a moment, before giving his teacher a small smile and answered: "I think you'll find out I can do plenty, sir. Just you wait and see."

"That's the spirit!" He laughed.

"NO ONE LEAVES UNTIL I'M VANQUISHED!!" he suddenly screamed, his tentacles still roaming the empty air.

"WAY TO GO NAGISA!" Nakamura yelled, not amused at the cocky side of her teacher, who signaled everyone to return to their seats. He then picked up someone's nameplate and started cleaning it with a handkerchief, singing: "Wipe it clean, wipe it clean, wipe it clean!" And then continuing to do so with the next one.

"We're so screwed!!"

* * *

It's been a few days since Nagisa's careless assassination attempt and since the octopus lost his marbles. Oh, right Kayano decided to name him Koro-sensei since korosenai meant unkillable. It may not be the most encouraging nickname, but hey... it felt right. Koro-sensei. The monster-like teacher, who was the target of twenty-six students, training to be assassins.

Every day, during Roll Call, the students take out their guns and continuously shoot at their teacher, hoping that one of the bullets would hit him. He kept telling them to be more inventive. When he finished calling Roll, everyone started to clean up the BBs and put their weapons away. They prepared for class and just like usual, started another day in the Assassination Classroom.

"We are assassins, and our target is our teacher," Nagisa told himself the same thing for the third time in ten minutes. He was desperately trying to think of an idea for their new assassination plan, but nothing came to his mind. That is until Sugino came up to him. He asked about his little flipbook that contained information on Koro-sensei and has yet to get any weaknesses added. When Ayami shared her idea with them, it sounded simple, but for some reason, he couldn't get anything other than his estimated height, weight and the number of tentacles. The octopus man was too amazing. Whenever he would brag about how he escaped another army missile, Nagisa couldn't help but feel so small compared to him. He was invisible and unimportant, while his teacher captured the attention of the most important people in the world. In a bad way of course, but he was important at least. 

The blue-haired boy sighed and asked Sugino to repeat his plan. He then told him that he planned to plant anti-sensei BBs into a baseball and throw it as fast as he could.

"It's a great idea. We could do this before classes. He's been reading the newspaper in the backyard before classes start for a few days now."

"Yeah, but do you think my fastball will be fast enough?" Sugino asked him, his tone full of doubts. Sure, he loved playing baseball; but ever since he's been kicked off the team he couldn't calm himself down. He believed that he wasn't good enough to be a baseball player, even though he tried a lot.

"There's only one way to find out. Let's meet up here 10 minutes before class." Nagisa instructed, giving Sugino a small smile before he went back to the school building to eat the rest of his lunch.

Assassination sure wasn't easy. Especially if your target was a super-strong non-human being that threatened to destroy Earth. A lot of people in the E-Class has tried to do something about it, tried to be more inventive; as Koro-sensei said, but they all failed without a doubt. But it's been less than a week so some of them didn't stress so much about it. They still had some time to think about it. Maybe not enough, but there was still a lot of time.

The school bell rang again. "That's lunch people. If you'll excuse me, I have some important off-campus business to attend to."  
"Tofu from China?" Isogai asked, knowing the octopus's love for food. Fastfood and sweets specifically.

"Actually...I'm catching a ball game in The Big Apple," he explained, opening the window. And then, like always, he disappeared in an instant. "Chiao!"

"He sure knows how to make an exit." Yoshida gritted through his teeth. "I know. That thing is starting to get on my nerves." Terasaka added.

"Talk about unfair! We're stuck here, while he flies all over the world, he could've at least bring souvenirs." Kataoka walked over to Kurahashi, who was daydreaming about American food. "Think about what he'd probably bring back. Are you that hard up for a motor shop?"

"I'm just saying an exotic snack would be nice. It's not like he has to sneak it through security." The female representative of the class chuckled. "You've obviously dedicated a lot of thought to this, huh Kurahashi?"

"So hey, what's New York's chief export?"

"I don't know booze?"

"What about something greasy from one of those food trucks?"

"Man! New York girls are hot!! Especially the blondes!" Okajima, the class pervert yelled. Maehara agreed with him. "Uhh, yeah!"

"Damn, can you imagine if one came back with his as a transfer student?"

Mr.Karasuma had just walked in, probably hearing the boys' stupid conversation. They immediately shut up. "Oh, Mr. Karasuma!" Okajima exclaimed. He didn't greet him back. Instead, he took a look at Nagisa, who was about to head out.

"Children! Any progress on killing tentacled varmint?"

"Define progress..." the boy turned his head away, not wanting to see the disappointment in the eyes of someone that successful. Everyone in the class did so. "Yeah, this is E-Class, yo. You gotta lower your expectations." Hazama, the black-haired girl broke the silence, quite rudely in fact.

"All due respect sir. He's too quick!"

* * *

Ayami plopped herself on her chair, arms crossed in front of her chest, a sigh escaping her dry lips. Things weren't going too good so far. She just had an argument with Rio Nakamura and was sorry about everything she had said to her. Her loud mouth was a part of her facade, and she couldn't get rid of it so easily, it's been a part of her life for such a long time that she didn't know how to be normal, friendly.

"What was that all about?" Maehara and Isogai approached her, leaning on Sugino's desk.

She didn't have the exact answer to that question, because she didn't know what it was about. The blonde hated her for some reason and picked a fight with her, in fact, she's been wearing her patience thin ever since the day she arrived. Maybe she had a thing towards newbies or something. Honestly, Ayami couldn't care less. It's not like she wanted to be friends with someone like her, but making enemies wasn't in her interest as well. Wasn't there an option to stay neutral and invisible?

As far as she knew, Nakamura wasn't considered as the serious one, who got into fights. Actually, she was quite the opposite, she got along with everyone, she showed off her playfully mischevious attitude, but for some reason, she always wanted to pick a fight with Ayami. Usually, the brunette would just brush her off with a snarky comment or just ignore her, but today she decided to fight back. It was honestly getting annoying. And so the girls turned the whole classroom in chaos with their insulting remarks. She definitely wasn't proud of it, but that's just how she was, and she had to live with that demonic part of herself-which was the hard part. At times, she felt like she made a deal with a devil, who gave her strength, but cursed her with a nasty tongue.

"I don't know. We just didn't hit it off," she told Maehara and Isogai with an annoyed look on her face.

"You know I usually don't complain when I see two chicks fighting, but this looks like it can get ugly. Don't you wanna talk to her at least?" Maehara asked the brunette, who took a glance at the blonde, who seemed to be complaining to Kataoka, Okano, and Yada.  She seemed pissed. Ayami leaned back in her chair and let out a sigh. "Well, you saw how that went. I think I'll just let things cool off a little. She'll get over it... Besides, she's the one that's been pricking me with her attitude ever since day one." Ayami said, calming down a bit.

"Good point, but still don't you think it would be nice to apologize?" Isogai suggested, feeling bad for the girls. He had been elected as the class president, along with Katakoka Megu, and he wanted his classmates to get along with each other. It kinda hurt to see both of them like this, since he knew Nakamura from his second year and has seen Ayami at the Student Council meeting when she was still in Class A. While he knew of her sharp tongue, he simply could not believe that she was mean. After she insulted him once, she sent him a long letter, expressing how she really felt. She was sorry about her attitude and felt guilty for saying such things when he had done nothing to her. And ever since then, he looked at the girl, who was a part of the student council once under a different light. She even offered to help him with his financial trouble as an act of apology, but he couldn't accept so much money, so he ended up rejecting her offer. Her social skills were at the bottom, but she was surprisingly honest on paper.

"No, I haven't done anything to her. I tried my best to ignore her, but she just kept pushing my buttons. Don't worry about it, she'll forget this ever happened in a few days."

"If you say so... By the way, have you heard about Sugino's assassination plan? He's planning to put BBs in his baseball and throw him at the octopus. Isn't that cool?" Hiroto smiled, changing the topic in hopes to engage in a conversation with the new girl.  
"The idea is definitely not completely mindless, but considering his speed, I don't think the ball will be fast enough. Who knows though, he may catch him off guard."

The next day Nagisa and Sugino came early to try out the assassination plan but were brutally disappointed when Koro-sensei caught it with a baseball glove. He even had enough time to go to the storage shack and find it. 

"Dammit, so much for my fastball." Sugino slouched, feeling disappointed, even though he should've known better than to expect his plan to work. He was an E-Class after all. There was no way he would succeed. "It was a good throw," Nagisa stated, feeling kinda bad for his classmate.

Koro-sensei took off to New York during the lunch break to see a baseball game. And a few minutes later, Mr. Karasuma entered the classroom to see if there was any progress on the assassination. Sadly, they didn't have good news. the monster was just too fast. They had fun with him, they learned a lot from him, but killing the octopus seemed almost impossible. Karasuma reminded the students of their priorities and then shortly left.

Sugino felt down for the rest of the day. He even went out to eat his lunch all by himself, when Koro-sensei approached him with a huge coconut from Hawaii. He praised his throw and asked him about the school team.

"I-uh was kicked off. Teams are only for D-Class and above. We're here to get our grades back on track, so extra activities like sports aren't allowed." he admitted sadly. "I would've gotten kicked off either way. I'm not exactly talented."

* * *

Nagisa was about to turn in his homework to the faculty office when he stopped at the sight of the yellow octopus.... choking Sugino. He ran out to help him, screaming at the teacher to leave him alone. Koro-sensei then released him and said that he was never going to throw the way his idol did. His shoulders simply weren't flexible enough. He could never recreate his style of pitching.  

Nagisa then snapped at him. He told the big octopus that he had no right to tell him that he wasn't going to make it. 

"Just because we're the E-Class?! Because we're just a bunch of losers with no bright future, right!?" he yelled, his eyes shooting daggers at the cocky octopus.

"You misunderstood me. I'm just saying this from my first-hand experience! I checked him as well!"

 _"What is wrong with you!?"_ the two boys sweatdropped.

"And I even got his autograph!" he held up the autograph, which made the boys' jaws drop."You asked him for an autograph _after_ you assaulted him!?" Nagisa yelled, confused. "He was so polite!" the giant octopus beamed.

"Koro-sensei, you went to New York just to give me advice?" Sugino asked, kinda pleased. "Of course, why wouldn't I? I'm your teacher," he replied, and the duo froze for a moment. "Well, it's just that most of the teachers wouldn't go this far for a student. And it's kinda weird since you plan to destroy the planet soon." Nagisa pondered.

"Let's just say that I'm planning to make good on a promise I made," he said, gently taking the notebook from Nagisa's hands. He took out a red pen and corrected his mistakes while saying: "The Earth will be destroyed, yes; but my priority is to you and your classmates." Nagisa took the notebook back and checked out the mistakes his teacher pointed out.

"Koro-sensei..." he started, "Could you not write weird problems like this on the back of my quiz?” the octopus freaked out. "What!"  
"I mean I get that you're trying to show off your sped and all, but...there's no point in being weird about it."  
"What!? But it's only a bonus question," he defended himself, kinda disappointed.

"Honestly, it feels more like a penalty." the octopus sweatdropped for a moment and then jumped back as if a new flow of energy hit him. "Er, so anyway I hope you, students are taking this assassination as seriously as I take your education! NOT THAT YOU'LL EVER PULL IT OF OF COURSE HAHAHA," he said, grinning as he started munching on that red pen.

Soon, Sugino improved a lot in his technique and his relationship with Koro-sensei improved as well. It only took them a few days to start playing ball with one another. Talk about a great teacher.

* * *

 Ayami stared through the window as Kataoka and Okano angrily bossed Koro-sensei around as he planted the new tulips he ripped out as Maehara, Isogai, Kataoka Megu, Okano, Mimura, and Yada tried to assassinate him. He apparently wanted to show off (as always) and replaced the knives with the old tulips. But that got him in trouble and it led them to the current situation.

What was she doing here? How did it end up like this? This place could potentially be bad for her, there were already a lot of red flags to keep the focus on and she wasn't having luck with making friends either. While everyone played outside, talking about the latest news, she sat by her desk, alone, only watching.

Of course, nothing changed, why would it? She didn't know how to properly interact with people. There was no reason for them to be friends with her. They'd only end up getting hurt. But it was either them or her. And after that, the cycle would begin anew. She'll probably escape to a different place and start again, trying to escape the fate of the wheel. But she knew, that was far from possible, she had read a lot of books about the topic, trying to escape one's fate, yet there were only a few characters that did. And if they did, the whole thing was unrealistic. There was no such thing as escaping fate. Not in the real world. Not in hers.

"Hey! Handle each one gently!" Okano leashed out on him. 

"Tulips need to be planted with care! You can't plant them at Mach 20!" Kataoka added.

"Got it!"

"He seems to be going through a lot of trouble for a guy who's gonna blow up the Earth in a few months," Maehara stated. "Yeah, he kinda went off his path a little. But hey, at least he's trying," his friend Isogai added.

A few minutes passed and Kanzaki Yukiko suddenly entered the empty classroom, looking for Ayami. "Sakura-san, Kataoka-san and Okano-san made a deal with Koro-sensei. We can tie him up to a tree and take shots while he reduces his speed. Are you coming?" Ayami raised her eyebrows. 

"This whole thing is ridiculous. He's obviously just playing, there's no point in going to such lengths, but I suppose I should get some fresh air," she decided, putting her book in her bag, receiving a sweet smile from Kanzaki. "Yeah, who would've thought that we were to be assigned to assassinate someone, but it might be fun to break the ice, right?" Ayami hasn't yet talked to Kanzaki, but she knew she was shy but a kind soul. She only hoped she wouldn't insult her, it was the girls like Kanzaki, who took things like this to heart. It would probably be better to distance herself from her, she didn't want to hurt her.

She noticed that Kanzaki was like the princess of the class, she also knew Sugino had a crush on her. The girl literary had everything anyone could've wanted. She was polite, cute, skinny...She was like the idol of this class. She kinda reminded Ayami of her past self; sweet and innocent. But Kanzaki over there, she was the real deal. Not some lifeless doll, controlled by her family's power.

Ayami passed a few desks, trying to reach her classmate. But before she managed to take another step, the room suddenly seemed to come to life, twisting and withering away before her very eyes. Stumbling, her hand desperately reached out to prop herself on the closest desk before she could fall.

_'I must have stood up too quickly.'_

"Sakura-san? Are you okay? Should I call Koro-sensei?!" Kanzaki rushed to the brunette, grabbing her arm to support her. She blinked a few times to get all the dark spots away and then straightened herself up. "I'm fine. Just a bit...tired," she admitted to the girl, who helped her straighten up. "I'll just grab a snack and be right there. You can go ahead."  
"Um, okay. If you ever need something, just ask me. I'll be glad to help." she nodded and watched the girl leave. She took out her tangerine and started peeling it.

Ayami walked outside to the tree where the whole class was to meet up, only to see Mr. Karasuma, Kayano and Nagisa watch as everyone else furiously tried to stab or shoot Koro-sensei, who was tied up to the tree branch, which suddenly broke. Everyone sweatdropped. "I don't think this is supposed to be how we kill him..." Ayami spoke, addressing her two classmates who watched the action play out in front of them. The octopus suddenly jumped to the roof, proud that he escaped the ropes and untangled his tentacles. He started to wave his tentacles around proudly as a peacock. "This is all just a game to him. We're just the mice he's playing with before dinner." Ayami stated, her eye twitching in annoyance. "You're right, so you better think of something fast." Karasuma who was behind the trio added. "We're trying sir," Nagisa replied.

Koro-sensei suddenly started laughing like a psychopath, his eyes shining red.

"GUESS WHO EARNED THEMSELVES EXTRA HOMEWORK!" he suddenly exclaimed, earning a bunch of groans and protests from the students. A moment after he took off, a bunch of papers filled with questions fell from the rooftop. The whole class groaned as they began picking them up.

Their bad mood soon disappeared as they started chatting about how exciting this year was becoming. Assassins or not, they were having a lot of fun, and they bonded a lot as well. Everyone was congratulating each other for improving their knife or shooting skills, or they talked about planning a new assassination attempt.

"So, do you think we've got a chance?" Kayano asked Nagisa.

"We better, or it's gonna be a heck of a weird graduation ceremony." The green head giggled at his response.

"Oh right, Mr. Karasuma said he'll be our new P.E. teacher starting tomorrow. Isn't that cool?" she suddenly remembered.

"Uh, I suppose," Ayami replied, looking at Rio Nakamura, who was handing out the rest of the papers.

"I'll get the homework sheets. Do you want me to bring them to you too?" the duo nodded, smiles on their faces. The girl strode over to the blonde, who was handing out papers.

"I guess you're still mad about earlier?" Nakamura crossed her arms in response, scoffing. She obviously didn't wanna talk. "What do you want?" she asked, not pulling her eyes away from her. "Homework."  
"Yeah, here." she handed her a paper, a mad look still in her eyes. "Can you give me one for Shiota-kun and Kayano-san as well?" She nodded, not saying a word. 

Ayami sighed, deciding to give in. "I suppose you want me to apologize. For earlier?" she decided to bring up the earlier argument. "Why? I'm not gonna hang out with you just because you apologized." she barked back. Ayami sighed. "Oh, don't take this the wrong way. I don't want to hang out with you." Ayami shot back immediately, regretting it as soon as the words left her mouth. Why did she have to be like this? Of course, she wanted to hang out, but doing so would end up in hurting one of them. "That's not why I came. I just don't want us to keep fighting. It's exhausting. I'd rather have an actual conversation every now and then if you're up for it. I know I said some pretty bad things and I apologize for that. Do you think you can forgive me?" Ayami's eyes widened as the girl in front of her let out a loud laugh. "Oh my god! Hahaha! I seriously can't believe you...You're so stupid, Ayami-chan!"

"Huh?" Ayami raised her eyebrows. Ayami-chan? Did she hear her right? Did the blonde just address her as one of her friends? "I'm not quite with you on this. Did I hear you right?"

Her expression hardened again.

"Look, girl. if you wanted to hang out, you should've just said so. I know it's hard having to change your environment, but you should stop with that little act of yours because you're gonna hurt _my_ friends. You're gonna get hurt yourself. I've seen the way you ran up to Nagisa, while everyone was frozen to their seats." Ayami opened her mouth to respond, but couldn't think for a moment. She felt... _exposed. Did she know_ about all this? "Nakamura-san, I don't intend to hurt anyone. I don't intend to get close to anyone. If you leave me alone, you'll be fine. The same goes for everybody else."

"Ayami-chan, listen to me. Your social skills are at 0, but for some odd reason, I wanna help you see the real world and make friends. Not everything has to be so grim as you make it look like. I think you should stop now because if you don't start working on yourself now, you'll never fix this problem." Ayami hung her head. "I don't need your help. You're just going to end up getting hurt yourself," she said, looking at her feet. A hand suddenly rested on her shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna get hurt by some mean words. Let me help. Or everyone is gonna see you crack."

The brunette sighed again. "Fine. Now get that hand off my shoulder."

* * *

 The woman in the dimmed room spoke up finally. "As you can see, our situation is a desperate one. Needless to say, this information is shared in the strictest confidence. Break the non-disclosure clause and you will be subject to a memory-wipe."

"Yikes." a deep voice answered, teasingly.

"Your fellow classmates have already been debriefed. They've done their best, but so far to no effect." The strange guy sitting on a grey sofa let his arms fall down, the paper with the information of the unidentified monster in one hand and a green, rubbery knife in the other. "Once your suspension has ended, you'll report to E-Class and review the situation. From there you are authorized to proceed as you see fit."

"Whatever." he threw the paper on the sofa, bending the green knife with both of his hands. "You expect me to take him down with _this? Seriously_?"

"Correct, that knife, while harmless to humans is designed specifically with your target in mind," she explained, no emotions showing.  
"Huh... Human, not human. It doesn't matter to me." the male stabbed the knife into the crack in the sofa through the paper. He then picked it up and let it fall on the floor. as the paper turned around, the picture with Koro-sensei's was torn right where his head was, indicating that he, the new guy knew no mercy.

"Either way, I'm up for it... Should be a lot of fun."

His red hair stood out under the illuminated white light, and his eyes shone with a dangerous look, full of bloodlust. He grinned mischievously, showing off his white canine teeth.

_"I've always wanted to kill a teacher."_

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, here's the new chapter! I hope you liked it. This may not be the best chapter ever, but I'm trying. I've sacrificed my chemistry knowledge for this T_T and it will probably take me some time to edit everything... I just hope there aren't too many mistakes. By the way, we're having a Karma chapter next time, so I suggest you come back. 
> 
> See ya, Coocoo <3


	3. Burning Red

"One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight!" The students of 3-E Class chanted as they practiced their knifework.

"Aah, the sounds of a choreographed exercise regimen, echoing across the fields on a golden afternoon." Koro-sensei sighed in awe, watching his students practice their killing moves as he carelessly twirled a flower between his tentacles.

"Five! Six! Seven! Eight!"

"So peaceful. So militant."

"Make those knives sing! threat every move as a legit kill strike!"

"Seven! Eight! One!"

"You're in the way, pal. P.E. is my department now." Karasuma stated coldly, his eyes fixed on his students.

"B-But I'm lonely..." the octopus whined. Karasuma remained cold and did not spare a glance to the big yellow-headed octopus baby. "Find something else to do then. Like, I don't know; there's a sandbox... Have a field day or something."

In less than a moment, Koro-sensei was sat in the sandbox, patting a pile of sand as comical tears ran down his round face.

"You don't have to be so cold! The kids liked it better when I was their gym coach anyway!"

Sugaya rested his knife on his shoulder, giving Koro-sensei a bored look. "Yeah, not so much. No offense or anything, it's just that when it comes to exercise, you..."

"Set the bar kinda high," Sugino added.

Nagisa suddenly remembered their first P.E. Class with Koro-sensei. He made them jump from side to side, while he did it at Mach 20!

"Like we could keep up with that," Nakamura said, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"We're human beings you know. I for one think our gym teacher should be too." Sugino stated, his words sinking deep in the octopus's heart. He sulked and started patting his pile of sand again.

"Right! Back to work people!" Karasuma ordered. "Can I just ask an obvious question," Maehara spoke up. "If there's an actual point to this training, should-uh, should we practice right in front of our target?"

"Whether killing or studying; it's the same principle. Drill the basics and they'll serve you well."

Ayami had to force down a laugh. This Assassination thing was actually getting so serious they compared it to studying? Oh please, it's not like the octopus was this big of a deal. He got flustered so easily anyone could take advantage in a second. Some mean words, a little distraction, and bam! They would be done in a few moments. It couldn't be so hard. The government surely didn't try with insulting and manipulating him to the point where he would drop from embarrassment; they were trying to be professional after all. She couldn't imagine any of the staff getting cocky with the monster or even blackmailing him. It could've been the reason they brought it up to the kids. While some of the people in E-Class were really nice, she was sure they would've made a great group of troublemakers. They were all different, which was the best. They had different talents that could help the group to kill the damn beast. 

"Isogai, Maehara. Step up."

The brunette fixed her ponytail and then crossed her arms in front of her chest. She watched Maehara and Isogai walk over to Mr. Karasuma. "I want you to try and tag me with those knives."

"Wait, like as a team?"

"Do you think that's a good idea?"

"The blades are harmless. They weren't designed to injure human beings. Tell you what, manage to hit me and you can go home for today." Mr. Karasuma said, loosening his tie with one hand. "

Uh... okay." Isogai agreed as he exchanged looks with Maehara. "Well, here goes nothing."

Isogai attacked first, but almost lost his balance when Mr.Karasuma stepped to the side with ease."Come on," Maehara stroke next and of course as expected, Mr. Karasuma blocked him and pushed him aside. The two tried again, but with no luck. 

"See that, kids? I can practically dodge their attacks in my sleep. They've got no technique." The boys ran to Mr. Karasuma again only to be thrown on the ground in a moment. " If you can't land a hit on me, you haven't got a prayer against your target, whose top speed is Mach 20." he looked over to the sandbox. " See, we've been sparring for what, a minute and look. He's had time to change clothes, make tea and build a model of Osaka castle."

"That is so irritating!" someone exclaimed in the back. Mr. Karasuma pulled the two boys back on their feet.

"That's why we drill. When the whole class can hit me, you have a shot. Do what I tell you, as often as I tell you to do it and you'll become assassins. This isn't recess, kids. From now on, gym class will be about the basics. Stabbing, correct use of firearms, everything you'll need to succeed."

"Oh, okay," Sugino breathed out, with wide eyes.

"Alright, that will do it for today." 

"Thank you, sir!" Everyone bowed in respect. Mr. Karasuma went over to Koro-sensei who was holding his jacket. Suddenly, Kurahashi, Yada, and Hayami-san approached Nakamura and Ayami. "This is so intense! He's terrifying but cool at the same time." Touka exclaimed.

"I know right! He wants you to hurt him, but he'll pet you on the head if you do it right!" Kurahashi agreed.

"He's a good coach," Hayami added. "Of course, and he's ripped, have you seen his arms?" Nakamura said with a wicked smile. Ayami shook her head, sweatdropping. "I think he's kinda cold, but he's still better at coaching than Koro," Ayami said at last. She caught a glimpse of her yellow teacher, standing in the back and trembling with jealousy. A small smirk crept up her lips. 

"I know what this is!"  The octopus turned to Mr. Karasuma. "You're trying to steal my place as their favorite teacher!"

"Really? I'm here by assignment. Like it or not, your contract clearly states that all new hires regarding E-Class can be picked solely by the principal." he suddenly threw a knife at the octopus, who caught it with ease with a white handkerchief. " And either way, this is not a popularity contest. It's my job. I'm here to help them kill you, pal."

"Could you not call me that, please? I prefer the name my students gave me; so that's Koro-sensei to you." So he wants to be our favorite teacher, huh?

 

~~~

The bell rang and the students of E-Class started walking over to the building to get changed and get ready for another period.

"Ugh, we've got a math quiz today remember?" Nakamura suddenly reminded Ayami.

"I forgot to study."

"I told you we shouldn't have spent the whole afternoon together," Ayami replied coldly. Nakamura giggled, elbowing her in the ribs.

"Oh, C'mon, you had so much fun, why are you being like this again?"

"Well thanks to you, I stayed up late trying to remember all the formulas." Nakamura laughed.

"You left my house at 6! How late was it? 9.30?" Ayami's cheeks suddenly heated and her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. "No! I don't go to sleep that early!" Her blush faded and she crossed her arms, trying to ignore her friend who was now holding her stomach from laughing so hard. "You're like a princess, I swear. Trying to act so high and mighty and then you tell me you go to sleep at like 8 pm... Hahaha!"

" _Hahaha_ , laugh it off already. It's not a big deal." she rolled her eyes again.

Nagisa and Sugino approached the two girls shortly after that. "Hey, what's up with you two?"

Nakamura opened her mouth to spill Ayami's sleeping habits, but stopped as the brunette sent her a glare. She waved them off. "Don't worry about it. Who knew our girl here had a great sense of humor? You should totally become an entertainer, Ayami-chan." The brunette rolled her eyes and started to walk up the stairs, not noticing the boy standing on top or how everyone stopped to stare at him.

 _"Do you seriously go to bed so early?"_ A voice whispered in her ear. She shot her head up, to see a red-headed boy smiling at her, his mercury orbs locking with her violet ones. She noticed a pink carton in his hand. "Do you seriously drink strawberry milk? What are you, a girl?" A tick mark appeared on his forehead, but he kept his smile on. "You should drink some. Maybe you'll outgrow Nagisa then." Ayami clenched her teeth. "Speaking of him," he continued and descended the stairs not sparing her another glance.

"Nagisa, what's up? It's been a while,"

"Karma, you're back?" the redhead nodded to confirm his fact. "Oh, hey that must be the notorious Koro-sensei." he walked over to Koro-sensei casually, one of his hands in his pocket. Ayami walked back down to Nakamura as she stared at the redhead along with everyone else.

"Aah, Mister Akabane, correct? I understand your suspension ends today. Welcome back." he raised one of his tentacles. "That said, tardiness is a no-no." the guy laughed in response. "Sorry, it's kinda tricky getting back into the swing of things. Oh and feel free to call me by my first name." He put his hand out of his pocket for Koro-sensei to shake. "Anyway, I've heard some great things, teach. Nice to meet ya."

"The pleasure's all mine. Should be a fun and educational year." Koro-sensei took his hand.

-SPLASH-

His tentacle splattered on the ground and he panicked, while Karma swung his knife at him. Koro-sensei jumped far back though. Like a coward. "Hah, you are fast, aren't ya? And who thought these knives actually work. I just cut one up into stripes and tagged them on. Pretty elementary stuff, chief. I'm disappointed that's all it took to catch you by surprise.. but good jump. If you don't mind coming off like a scaredy-cat," he started walking closer. "What are ya, scared of me?"

Koro's tentacle grew back with ease. But Karma paid no mind to it. "I heard they call you Koro-sensei, 'cause you're supposed to be unkillable. Oh come on~" he leaned into his face with a devil-like smirk on his face. "No way you can be this big of a pushover."

Koro-sensei's head became red with anger.

"Hey, Nagisa? What kind of a person is this Karma guy?" Kayano asked Nagisa, who stood just next to Ayami, Sugino, and Nakamura.

"Uh," he started. "He and I were in the same class our first and second year... He was violent. So violent they almost expelled him and shut him here. E-Class is where they send you when they don't know what else to do with you. The thing is that under the circumstances, he may end up a star student."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Kayano asked again. Ayami shifted her gaze back to the red-head who was playing with his knife before shoving it back into his pocket.

"Weapons and blood are his passion. Trust me, if anyone can kill our teacher, it's him."

"Stick around next time Koro-sensei. I'll show you what it's like to be assassinated. You won't wanna miss it."

 

~~~

It was time for the sixth period and after a 20-minute break everyone changed back into their normal uniforms and was sat at their usual seat. Koro-sensei handed out the quizzes and the classroom was quiet, for a few minutes. Then, the upset octopus started punching the wall with his soft tentacles. They made a squishing sound, which was pretty....distracting.

"Umm, what is he doing?" Mimura whispered.

"I don't know, I think he's punching the wall," Yada answered.

"You're right. Karma's smack off seems to have really touched a nerve."

"But what's the point of punching the wall when his tentacles are too soft to do any damage?"

"OKAY, THAT'S ENOUGH! COULD YOU STOP THAT?! WE'RE TRYING TO TAKE A QUIZ HERE!" Okano yelled suddenly.

"S-Sorry, yes. Absolutely!"

"You sure you know what you're getting yourself into Karma? The jellyfish is sincerely pissed off at you." Terasaka told the redhead, who blankly stared at the front.

"You can't pay me enough to be in your shoes," Yoshida added.

"If I was you I'd be home with my head under a pillow."

"Course he's pissed. Who wouldn't be if someone made an attempt on their lives? Less the would-be assassin screwed up and piss himself in the process."

"I didn't piss myself! That attitude is going to get your ass kicked!"

"Boys..." Ayami sighed and leaned back in her chair stretching her arms. She had already finished her quiz and could afford to relax.

"Quiet please!" Koro-sensei yelled suddenly, raising his tentacle to shush the boys. "No noise during the quiz! Keep talking and I will assume that you're cheating!"

"Sorry Koro-sensei, my bad. No worries though, I'm already finished. I'm just gonna eat my gelato if that's okay."

"Not so fast! No eating in class!" Ayami looked over to the annoying redhead who was licking a fresh strawberry gelato. 

"HEY! THAT'S THE GELATO I BROUGHT BACK FROM ITALY YESTERDAY!" Everyone sweatdropped.

"Huh? Sorry, my bad. I just saw it chillin' in the faculty launch."

"This won't do young man! I flew to the coldest layer in the stratosphere to keep that delicious treat from melting!"

"Yeah? So, what are ya gonna do?" he asked as he took another lick of the strawberry gelato. "Hit me?"

"Of course not," Koro-sensei said, his face red with anger. He started walking to the back of the class where Karma was seated. "I'll simply have it back and finish what's left thank you very much-"

-SPLASH-

Ayami sweatdropped as she realized the octopus forgot to look where he was going and stepped on the anti-him BBs which made one of his lower tentacles explode. "Anti-me BBs!?" The next second Karma tried shooting him but missed thanks to Koro-sensei's superhuman speed. The redhead laughed from amusement. "Wow! That's twice in one day, teach!"

He stood up from his seat, his gun still pointed at the yellow monster. "I'm gonna keep pulling the same old tricks. Class will get interrupted, our grades will slip... Let's be straight up though; if you want this to stop, you can just kill me... or anyone else in this class for that matter," he suddenly shoved the gelato onto Koro-sensei's attire and then dropped in on his tentacles. "You just gotta let go of wanting us to see you as our teacher. Give us a taste of your ugly side." 

A dangerous glint suddenly appeared in his eyes. "Or you can make peace with all this; except that I'll be the one to kill you." he regained back his composed self and started walking outside. He threw his quiz in the air, which Koro-sensei caught with ease."Here's my quiz. Easy-peasy. Peace out for now teach, what do you say we play again tomorrow?" 

And with that, the redhead left the classroom. No one dared to utter a word.

"You've got 10 minutes to finish," Koro-sensei said, at last, returning to his desk. Ayami shifted her gaze to the window and admired the big oak tree that stood proudly in front of the campus. Her brows furrowed as she took a glimpse of a familiar redhead walk past it to the stairs that lead to the main campus. 

"Sakura-san?" a voice from behind suddenly threw her out of her trance. She looked back to see Fuwa, who shushed her and motioned her to turn back. "Can I copy? Lean more to the right!" she whispered. Ayami rolled her eyes and almost bit her tongue to keep her from groaning. She knew letting her classmate cheat could get her in trouble as well, but if she didn't she'd probably be labeled as even colder and heartless as she was up till now. Without any more thoughts, she leaned to the right and put her paper on the left side of the desk, completely visible to Fuwa. 

Ayami leaned her head on her right hand and closed her eyes for a moment. She still had some time before the class ended, it couldn't be such a big deal if she closed her eyes for just a minute-

"Fuwa-san!"

Her eyes widened at the sudden breeze beside her and she shifted in her seat to see Koro-sensei beside her, scolding Yuzuki for copying from her quiz. "I'll have you retake the quiz in detention, understood?"

"Yes, Koro-sensei...I'm sorry."

"Then I'll see you after class... And Sakura-san, do not help your classmates cheat again or I'll fail your quiz as well!" the octopus turned his attention back to Fuwa Yuzuki and took her quiz along with Ayami's.

"5 minutes left by the way!" 

 

~~~

_"Oh my god, isn't that Sakura Ayami?"_

_"You mean that rich bitch who used to hang out with Asano-kun?"_

_"Yeah, I heard that she passed out right before last years finals. She couldn't keep up with her studies while she was in the hospital so she was thrown in the E-Class. Isn't that just sad?"_

_"OMG, like she actually passed out?! You mean she can't even handle the exam pressure?"_

_"I heard she's been making herself puke."_

_"What! Are you serious? That is so disgusting!"_

Ayami hung her head low and debated whether she should defend herself or not. This was the first time she heard people bad-mouthing her and to be honest, it hurt. Though she swore to herself she'd think nothing of it, she realized it wasn't that easy. She's been used of getting compliments that made her get butterflies in her stomach every day. When she decided to approach the three girls behind her with her head held high, and a stern look on her face, a voice suddenly called after her.

"Ayami-san! Stop right there!"

The brunette immediately stopped in her tracks, clutching the straps of her bag tightly. She recognized that voice in an instant. Asano Gakushuu. She turned to the right and her eyes widened as she was pulled into a tight embrace. 

"Let me go you freak!" she pushed the boy off her and he stumbled a few steps back. His strawberry blonde hair covered his eyes and he remained quiet for a few seconds. Then he lifted up his head and crossed his arms over his chest, stepping closer once again.

"How are you? Are your new classmates being nice to you?" 

"Look Gakushuu, if you're here to rub me being in the E-Class in my face, just leave.  I don't want to deal with you right now," she said coldly.

"Ayami, let me help. I know you're not in the best position right now, but-"

"That's none of business. Just leave me alone."

_"Is she serious? She's so mean to Asano-kun! How dare that piece of trash even talk to him!"_

_"I know! And she even pushed him away when he hugged her! How dare she!"_

_"What a bitch! She has nothing but money! Look at her manners! Has no one taught her to show respect to the ones with a higher status?!"_

_"I hope she pukes her guts out."_

Asano's face fell when he heard that. He walked over to the three girls, who immediately started swooning after him. "Asano-kun! What a suprise. Can we help you?" One of them asked. He gave them a bored look and spoke up in a calm voice: "Stop bad-mouthing my friend. Ayami-san is definitely not bulimic nor ill-mannered, she is the school's idol for a reason."

"Well she isn't much of an idol anymore since she's in the E-Class now. Stop hanging around with her. Her grades have become horrible! We're in Class B, we can be a much better company than she is." Ayami bit her lip as she tried to keep up with the conversation Asano had with the girls.

Asano clenched his teeth in anger. "What you three are doing right now is absurd. I want you to stop. I'll let it slide this time, but the next time I catch you I'll report you to the principal for bullying a student." he stated coldly, zipping the mouths of the trio shut. 

"Absolutely Asano-kun!"

"We won't do it anymore!"

And they were gone in a second. The strawberry blonde turned back to Ayami, who started walking away once again. He ran up to her to catch up. "What's with you? You're not even gonna thank me?"

"Oh, so you did this only to hear 'thank you' coming out of my mouth? Don't mess with me. I didn't ask you to do It." she had to resist the sudden urge to hung her head back down once they passed the school gate. She had no idea so many rumors about her were spreading around. She didn't want her reputation to drop to that level. But on the other hand, she didn't give a fuck. It's not like she'd live long enough to see the end of it. She was going to spend her last year in the E-Class either way.

"I told you. I'm worried about you. You've changed so much."

"So what? Is that not what people do all the time? It's normal. Maybe I needed a change."

"Ayami-"

"I have to go. My train leaves in ten minutes."

"Well then at least let me walk you there. I'm going on a trip with my father to Osaka tomorrow, so I have to buy the tickets either way." Ayami rolled her eyes and bit her tongue from snapping back. Gakushuu was her friend after all and he stood up for her today. If it was her talking, she would've made the situation even worse.

The walk to the station was mostly quiet. Asano occasionally made a comment of how his best friend, Ren made something stupid again and told her how it irritated him that he wasn't doing his best with studying. Ayami chuckled.

"Well Ren has always been a playboy, what did you expect? He would probably get along with my classmate pretty well. He's also like that."

"I don't think so." they suddenly stopped in front of a vending machine. "Do you want something?" He suddenly asked. Ayami eyed the machine to see what options did she even have. Her eyes suddenly stopped at a familiar box of strawberry milk.

"Strawberry milk."

"Seriously? I've never seen you drink that before." Asano asked suspiciously. Whether it was food or drink she'd always pick something low-calorie and light 'so she wouldn't get too sleepy'. To be honest it made him happy to see that she wasn't living on water again. She did look better than the last time he saw her. He thought she'd break on the spot. "I just wanna see what it tastes like," she quickly defended herself, a small blush appearing on her cheeks. Gakushuu smiled.

.

"Huh? Is this Ayami-san?" Sugino asked Nagisa, Maehara and Isogai as they reached the train station.

"Seems like it," Nagisa responded, looking at his classmate, who nicely accepted the drink from the strawberry blonde guy. 

"Who is she with? Is that her boyfriend?" Maehara questioned.

"That's Asano Gakushuu. The student council president." Isogai answered, "He and Ayami-san were in the student council together."

"Oh that does make sense. She is the school's number one girl." Sugino stated, getting everyone's attention. "Was, actually." Isogai corrected him.

"What?" Maehara asked, confused. "She isn't so popular anymore since she isn't in the A-Class anymore. Her personality changed a lot, too." Isogai told the group with a serious tone. It wasn't that big of a suprise to no one. The E-Class was considered to be the worst place in the school.

"Well it's probably not that big of a deal, besides, she doesn't seem like the type to beg for attention." Maehara sighed. "Things like that happen, losing her popularity isn't the worst. At least they're not bullying her."

"True, but it could happen. Though she has that guy on her side."

"Well, boyfriend or not, our train is leaving in a minute." Sugino reminded the boys. "See you later Nagisa!" they said, leaving the boy by himself. "Bye, have fun!" he waved as he watched the three of them leave.

Not a moment passed, when he heard voices behind him. He knew them all too well. His ex-classmates. Tanaka Nobuta and Takada Choosuke.

"Are you kidding me? Is that actually Nagisa?" Tanaka Nobuta said. Nagisa froze on the spot. 

"Look at that guy, all cozy with the E-Class dumbasses."

"Eww, gross. Gotta hand it to him, he's adapted to the crowd he's gonna spend the rest of his life with."

"Hey, did you hear the news? Now that his suspension's over, they shut that Akabane in that dump."

"Eww, no kidding? I'd rather be dead, than stuck in a classroom with that freak." Suddenly, Karma appeared out of nowhere and broke a glass bottle over their heads.

"Seriously? I can help you out with that," he pointed the broken bottle at them, a smile on his lips. "It'd be messy, but real quick."

"I'D RATHER LIVE THANKS!" they said and ran away. Karma laughed, throwing the broken bottle aside with ease.

"Haha, like I'd actually do anything, right?" he said as he approached Nagisa, who was still stunned from his sudden appearance.

"Umm, hey."

"Yeah, hey Nagisa. Is it cool if I pick your brain for a sec?" 

.

"Bye, see you soon." Asano smiled at his friend, who was sipping the strawberry milk happily. "Yeah, yeah, sure. Go already." she waved him off. "Do me a favor and don't choke on that. I don't want to be a prime suspect after you die." the brunette blushed a bright red and turned around, stomping her foot on the ground. "I won't! Bye already!" Gakushu smiled and finally left the girl, who moved closer to the platform..

"So the word is that you've been keeping notes on the octopus," Karma stated to Nagisa as they reached the platform.

"Well yeah, I kinda have."

"Does he hate that nickname?"

"Now that you mention it, whenever he draws himself it's always as an octopus. And he always picks octopus-themed characters in video games... and there's this thing he does in the sandbox... Octopus trap, I think that's it? So I don't think he minds at all. Though he gets kinda angry when Sakura-san doesn't refer to him as Koro-sensei in our private conversations. She almost always calls him octopus when he's not around... But other than that, he loves it."

"Does he? That's good...Oh, this is gonna be freakin' epic."

"I know that look. You're cooking up something really dark."

"I might be," the redhead confessed. "It's fun, right? I was into this when I thought he was just a monster," his eyes got that demonic glint again as the train arrived. "...but now that I know what his personality is like, I finally get to kill an honest and goodness teacher!"

"...Karma," Nagisa breathed out, not sure about how he should feel about his mad look. It almost made him tremble. He really looked like he could kill someone. Out of his own will. "Let's go in,"

A moment later, the train left and the two boys stood inside, catching up on the things they missed.

 "Say Nagisa, what's up with that chick? She's from our class, right?"

"Sakura-san? Eh, she's just a bit cold and distant. She's a good person though, and she's really smart."

"Oh, really? Then why did she end up in the E-Class?" Nagisa looked in Ayami's direction. She was occupied by her phone and had her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. Just like usual. Then she took a sip of her strawberry milk and shoved her phone in her bag.

"She was sick a lot. I think that was it."

 "Why do you ask?" he asked the redhead.

"Huh? She seems like the person who'd be fun to mess with."

"Actually, you don't want to mess with her..."

"And why's that?"

 

~~~

The next morning Ayami was greeted by an octopus on Koro-sensei's desk.

"What the hell is this?" Nobody said anything.

"Ah! This is just a little something for Koro-sensei. Don't you think he'd love it?" he asked her with a grin.

"It's dead. If you wanna tease him for being an octopus at least bring it alive so he can play with it," she said, a small smile appearing on her lips.

The whole class sweatdropped. They didn't know Ayami would support his idea of bringing an octopus to school to piss of a teacher. It even took Karma by suprise.

"Don't you think he'd love that?" she mockingly said. Oh, she was just being sarcastic.

"Hmm, I don't know. I think he'd prefer if he didn't have any competition. He wouldn't like it if we'd take a liking to his pet and not him." Karma suddenly stabbed the octopus' head, making everyone gasp in terror. Ayami didn't move an inch. Her eyes were open wide and her hands became cold. She knew it was dead even before he brought it here, but stabbing it in front of her made her want to puke. 

"You're disgusting," she said coldly and tried to pass him to get to her seat. He didn't move aside though.

"Actually no, the name's Karma Akabane." Ayami rolled her eyes at the stupid joke and eyed his hand before shaking it.

"Ayami Sakura. Now move before I puke on you." 

A few moments later Koro-sensei stepped in cheerfully. "Good morning class! Huh? Why the long faces? Has something-" his eyes darted to his desk where he saw the poor octopus.

"Oops, that's on me," Karma said, his voice loud and proud. "Yeah, totally thought it was you, innocent mistake. I stabbed it, so I suppose I should get rid of it?" Koro-sensei let out a sigh and he picked up the octopus,and started walking towards Karma.

 "Yes, you should."

Then he disappeared for a moment and showed up in front of him again, holding different ingredients and... a missile from the defense force? He started cooking with the help of the missile's firepower and in less than a minute, he made enough takoyaki for the whole class.

 "If you think that I'm gonna let the new kid get away with murder, think again." He shoved the takoyaki in Karma's mouth, but he spat it out.

"Did you know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? Your complexion tells me you haven't eaten, so please, help yourself to some of this delicious takoyaki. I insist." Karma remained quiet, glaring at the annoying octopus. "You see, I'm a giver. I tare of things: hungry students, would-be assassins, troubled teens... Every attempt on my life is an opportunity for me to play my part. So by all means, keep at it. By the end of the day, if your body and mind aren't glowing with health and knowledge, I haven't done my job! Let's see how this day goes!"

Throughout the day Karma kept trying to assassinate or at least annoy Koro-sensei but to no avail. He tried shooting him, but got his nail painted instead. His next attempt was in Home Ec, where he tried to spill Fuwa's soup... and he got equipped with a pink apron filled with pink hearts. In literature class, Koro-sensei started grooming Karma's hair. He probably wanted to do something again, but was stopped before he could even begin.

Ayami smiled. He was just as hopeless as the rest of them. He wasn't special, no. He was just another student of the E-Class, trying out his assassination plan. He had some great traits that could help them to succeed, but so did everybody else. His talent was just oriented to annoying others. Even if he was violent, he sure wasn't ready to kill someone. No one in the class was. They had to learn to know what it meant to kill and how to deal with the consequences.

And so another day passed in the Assassination Classroom. The students gained another ally, gained a lot of knowledge and made a step closer to their goal. Killing Koro-sensei may have been a difficult task, but with everyone united, they could do it.

 

~~~


	4. Bitch Alert!

The school was finally over and Ayami went to town with Nakamura, Kayano, Yada and Okano. Everyone had a smile on their faces, taking small sips of their drinks and laughing about something. Except for Ayami. She sat on the chair, legs crossed and a cup of black coffee in her hands. She completely ignored the girls' conversation, eyes fixed on the wall clock in the cafe; waiting for it to strike 6.30 so she could leave.

The girls beside her; who were now arguing passionately about something, wanted her to come with them to a cafe. So they could 'hang out'. 

As expected she refused immediately. But of course, they were prepared for that. The four girls made a plan a day before and tried to blackmail her into coming with them... It didn't work out.

_Kayano waved a picture of little Ayami, in a baby blue dress, holding a bouquet of flowers in front of her chest. The 8-year-old brunette stood next to a beautiful blonde woman who sat on the stairs next to her, her arms wrapped around her waist, smiling proudly just like the little girl. "Please. You four really think that I'm going with you just because you found one of my old childhood pictures online?" she scoffed, crossing her arms in front of her chest. They sweatdropped. "We'll show it to the whole class if you don't come with us!" she gave them a bored look."So? It's a nice picture. I won my first piano competition in Toronto that day. I don't see how you could blackmail me with it."_

They, however, had another card up in their sleeves. And the brunette never saw it coming.

_Nakamura grinned pulling out another picture out of her pocket. Ayami's face went blank."W-Where did you get that?" she pointed at the picture with a shaky finger. Ayami, on the picture, was in her first-year Kunugigaoka swimsuit, standing in front of the pool, soaking wet and shaking. Her hair dripping and messy and her face looked like she was about to sneeze. Ayami glared at Nakamura. "Fine."_

 Ayami frowned at the memory. That picture was horrible. And it would completely ruin her reputation in her class, so Nakamura promised to delete it since she was the one who took it in the first year anyway on the field trip. _'One hour left. Might as well talk to pass the time.'_ Ayami thought to herself.

"Ugh, that Akabane-dude was so annoying today." Ayami groaned before she took a sip of her coffee. The girls nodded. "But his attempts were pretty cool. I don't think we could pull it off like him." Kayano stated.

"Yeah, that's 'cause he's a manipulative bastard that loves violence." 

"Good point... but you gotta admit, he is kinda hot." Nakamura suddenly added. Ayami almost spat her coffee right out. "What? Him, no way! He's a psychopath. He stabbed an octopus in front of me last week."   

"Sure, but did you see him? His face is flawless and his body is great too."

"I repeat. He stabbed a freaking octopus in front of my face!" Ayami was getting angry at her friend. The boy could hurt any of them in a second and she was thinking about how hot he was?  "I agree with Ayami-san, he's not boyfriend material. We should be careful in front of him." Okano said seriously. "Finally someone! Nakamura, your taste in men is horrible!"

"Says the girl who goes out with a nerd." Yada joked. "What?" Ayami gave her a confused look. "Aren't you dating Asano-kun? The boys said they saw you with him last Thursday," she asked.

"Gakushuu? No, he's my ex-classmate. I would never date him."

"He's the student council president right?" Ayami nodded. "But he's not a nerd. He actually doesn't study a lot."  
"What? Are you sure? He has, like the perfect scores in every exam!"  
"That's because he reviews his notes a lot. I think his memory is photographic."  
"Wow, that's so amazing! I wish I was as smart as him."

"Weren't your grades as good as his for a long time?" Nakamura suddenly asked. Ayami's expression darkened. "What, really?" Kayano asked surprised. "Yeah. Until I got sick for a long time. I became lazy since I was practically living in my bed. I told myself I'd get back on track when I recovered, but it was harder than I thought." her smile faded a little. "But I'm back now and I'm planning to get my reputation back up along with my grades."

The girls talked for a little more and then decided to go home as they noticed the sun going down. They all lived close by so Ayami was the only one who had to go to the train station to get home. The sun was almost down already and as Ayami stepped in the train, she caught a glimpse of her redheaded classmate and sweatdropped.

_'Just my luck. Don't tell me he lives close.'_

A few minutes passed before the bullet train stopped at the Shinjuku station and Ayami left, a strange feeling appearing in her gut. It felt as if someone was following her. She walked for a few minutes at a normal speed, but she heard a few pairs of steps following her at a steady pace. She immediately sped up. "Sakura-san!" A female voice said cheerfully. Almost too cheerfully. Ayami stopped and turned around, only to be shoved against a wall. "What the hell-" before she could do anything else a hand collided with her cheek, resulting her to hit a box beside her.

"Watch your mouth, Ayami-chan. A lady like you should be polite. Didn't your parents teach you that?" their laughs were loud and menacing. The brunette stood up and dusted the dirt off her skirt, before looking up at them. It took her a good second to recognize them as the three girls from last week; those who were so helplessly in love with Asano. "Ugh, how dare you brainwash Asano-kun?!"  Suddenly, one of them kicked her in the stomach. She collapsed on her knees, groaning quietly. "Who do you think you are?!" They stopped to get an answer out of her.

"Let me tell ya something. Gakushuu and I, we're friends only. Barely even that. But if you love him so much I could tell him about it? How about that? You think he'd actually go on a date with someone who talked shit of his friend?" She replied coldly, her hand on her stomach. The three girls clenched their teeth in anger. She wasn't going to let them get to her. She just had to make it look like she didn't care. Because she didn't. Even if they sent her to the hospital again. "I don't think so.".

"You cow! How dare you! It's not like you have perfect grades!" They kicked her again. "But he still wants to hang out with me, doesn't he?"

One of them pulled Ayami back to her feet by her collar and was about to smack her head against the wall. Ayami shut her eyes and tried to prepare herself for the impact, which never came. Instead, she heard a scream. The girl loosened her grip on her, which caused the brunette to fall on her knees again. "Ahh! Who are you? W-What are you doing here?"

_'Who's there?'_

"I could ask you the same question. What the fuck are you doing to her?" A cold womanly voice threatened.

Ayami opened her eyes to see a tall, blonde woman in her twenties with an angry look in her light blue eyes. Her vision was foggy, so she didn't exactly make out her face. She looked so pissed that it was a little scary. Ayami noticed the woman was pointing a golden revolver at the girls. Her eyes widened. She wasn't going to kill them, right?

"We're so sorry!"

"I swear we won't do it again."

"Please don't hurt us!"

"You three are lucky I don't hit girls like you. Now get lost before I change my mind."

The three annoying brats finally left and Ayami hoped it was for good. She didn't wanna be attacked like that again. Tough or not, she wasn't physically capable of taking on three people at once. She had just started her training as an assassin, and she hasn't gained enough strength to fight back yet. She let out a pained sigh and closed her eyes for a moment, as she was hit with a migraine. 

"You know, a big mouth usually doesn't help in situations like this." the woman smirked, offering her a hand and pulled her up. "I just didn't wanna seem weak," she muttered to herself, dusting off the invisible dust off her skirt. She crouched down to pick up her bag and swung it over her shoulder. "I don't think you're weak. You are pretty brave to stand up to them. Most people are too scared to even talk back."

"You didn't have to help me. You could get in trouble for this. Pointing guns at teens, I mean." Ayami said quietly.

"Haha! Do you think I'm scared of that? Please, sweetie. I'm an adult. I know how to handle myself." her voice was arrogant and was mocking her in a way. She couldn't see her face clearly from the lack of light, but even so, she noticed the mature aura from her. Not to mention the sweet scent from her perfume that overwhelmed her senses. It was so familiar.

"...Right."

"Are you okay though?" her sharp blue eyes softened a bit. "They didn't hit you too hard, right?"

"Of course I am. They barely touched me," she tucked the hair behind her ears and just as she made a step forward, everything started spinning. She tried focusing her eyes on the woman, but as soon as the blonde reached out, everything went pitch black.

* * *

"Tch. I need to get to work." The blonde woman cursed, glaring at the still-unconscious brunette. Last night, she happened to be passing by and saw her get beaten up. So she scared the other girls away. But she didn't expect she'd freaking faint. They barely even hit her. She nudged the girl with her bare foot. "GET UP, YOU BRAT!" Ayami didn't move an inch. It's been more than 10 hours! How much sleep did the girl need!?

The woman sighed. She couldn't leave a teenage girl alone in the hotel all by herself. She eyed the crest on her uniform. Kunugigaoka. She clasped her hands together in excitement. Great! So she could just dump the girl in the nurse's office if she won't get up by the time they get there and then just get on with her day. The huge breasted woman called the hotel gatekeeper and asked for assistance, who took the girl to her car. She dropped her off at the nurse's office and then went to the closest supermarket to get a drink. And continue with her plan.

Ayami woke up to a white ceiling above her. The lights shone brightly, so she had to shut her eyes to avoid getting another migraine. She sat up, taking the white covers off her. Where was she? The hospital? She looked around and recognized the place as Kunugigaoka's nurse's office. Did that woman take her there?  "Oh, you're awake. Great." A man, probably in his mid-twenties, called out, writing something on what seemed to be her medical record. He wore a white coat and had jet black hair. Ayami recognized him as the schools' new doctor; Mr.Kishitani. "How are you feeling, Sakura-san?" he asked with a calm and composed voice and took off his glasses. 

"Um fine. What time is it? I need to get back to class-" The man laughed, stopping her. "AH-AH! Slow down. The classes haven't even started yet, but I'm afraid you'll have to stay here for a bit longer. I need you to wait for your blood test results. I'll write you a note for your teacher, so don't worry. Your father says you're anemic, right?" He talked to her father?

Ayami nodded. "Yeah," She confirmed, her throat dry. He wrote something on a piece of paper, folding it carefully. "You should know that this isn't something to take lightly. You have to take care of your diet-"  

"Yeah, I know, eat foods high in iron, take vitamin supplements, blablabla. I'll be fine, really," she assured the man. "Can I just please go back? We have a pop-quiz today." the man observed her closely and then chuckled in "Fine. But I'll escort you to the mountain. Can't have you passing out on _that_ route." he passed her a glass of orange juice and an omelet. 

"Okay." she eyed the omelet but started eating. She didn't want to stay here even longer. 

On the way to the E-Class Building, Ayami had to explain what happened. Of course, she had to leave out the part where she was assaulted by the trio. The doctor didn't seem to buy it. "I see. So she brought you here this morning. Do you know her?" Ayami shook her head. "No. Never seen her before." The doctor hummed. "You know, your father is worried about you. I think you should give him a call."

_Crap._

"Okay."

They arrived to the building and Ayami led him to the faculty office. She prayed Koro-sensei wasn't there. _'Please don't be here. Please don't be here.'_ Mr.Kishitani opened the door and entered the office. Ayami was relieved when she realized that the only one in there was Mr. Karasuma. There were still 10 minutes left until the classes began. She sighed and entered the classroom. She didn't have to wait there. He was probably just going to tell him about what happened. No point in being anxious.

"Good morning. You must be Mr. Karasuma, right?" The said man tore his gaze from his computer, redirecting his focus to the tall and well-built man who just entered the office. Karasuma stood up to greet the man. "Yeah, and you are?" He asked in confusion. He was clad in a tight black t-shirt and jeans, all as perfect as the day they were purchased. He could detect the scent of an exquisite cologne lingering in the air. He wore a white coat with Kunugigaoka crest on it, and Karasuma immediately assumed he was from the nurse's office... Was something wrong? "Oh, I'm Haruto Kishitani. I work in the nurse's office. I believe this is our first official meeting, yeah?" The man smiled and offered Mr.Karasuma his hand, which he shook without hesitation. He eyed the man. His smile had a tint of feminity and he seemed way too cheerful for a doctor. Not that it mattered. 

"Yes indeed. Though we've passed each other on campus a few times," the man chuckled lightly. "Could be. I usually don't pay much attention, so forgive me if I didn't greet you back...Anyways, I'd like to talk about one of your students. Sakura-san." Karasuma raised his eyebrows. "What about her?" the young doctor leaned on the windowsill, a worried look on his face. "I'm still waiting for her blood results to come back, but I was informed that she's anemic. So I'd like you to keep an eye on her. And let her sit back for the next few P.E. classes. You see, she was found passed out by a strange woman yesterday evening who brought her to my office this morning."

Karasuma's posture stiffened. "How is she?" the man laughed again. He seemed oddly relaxed about the situation."Ah, no worries! She's fine. But I came here in person since there's a rather disturbing rumor going around in the main campus. A few students came in my office the other day, saying that she's been making herself puke? Do you know anything about it?"

Karasuma's breath halted for a second. What? Puke? "Are you sure that you didn't mix up the names? Sakura is a pretty responsible kid from what I've seen up till now. I don't think she'd do something like this to herself."

"I'm not saying that she is, Mr. Karasuma. I just want you to keep an eye on her. Kunugigaoka staff try to provide as much mental health support as they can. We don't want another kid ending up in the clutches of an eating disorder, do we?"

 _'Mental health support. Yeah, right.'_  Karasuma thought to himself. Then why was half of the students in the campus on the verge of crying every time he visited the main campus? Karasuma wasn't stupid. This system of exiling the poor kids was going over the edge. Not just for the E-Class. Every kid in the school was under pressure, afraid to be sent in the outback. "No, of course not. Are you suggesting that I talk to her about it?"

"For now, I'd say just keep a low profile. If you talk to her now, she might deny it. Kids these days are very sneaky. You should focus on any strange changes in her behavior. I can tell you more if you drop by for some coffee some time. We can make a plan if it'll turn out that I'm correct, okay?" He flashed Karasuma a smile, winked and...blew him a kiss.

Karasuma froze when he realized what just happened.

_The man was gay._

"Uh...yeah. Sure."

The man chuckled again and strode over to the door. Then he suddenly stopped. "Oh! I just remembered. I had to reschedule your classes medical check-up to a week after the midterms. I'll be sure to inform you of the details. It was nice to meet you Mr. Karasuma!" And just like that, he was gone.

...

_WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!_

* * *

"Okay, look alive people. Meet our newest addition to the E-Class faculty." Mr. Karasuma said with an annoyed voice as he eyed the blonde woman who walked in the classroom along with Koro-sensei. She was clinging to him like a leach and looked totally in love... which was a little disturbing to see. "Hi! My name is Irina Jelavić. Nice to meet you all!"

"Wow! Talk about a knockout!"

"Knockers more like!"

"Does anybody else thinks it's kinda weird that she's all over Koro-sensei?"

"A little bit, yeah,"

"We decided to bring on Miss. Jelavić in the interest of peeking up the English curriculum. No hard feelings I hope. She's a... very good qualifier." Karasuma continued as the woman with enormous boobs kept complimenting his 'handsome features'

"No harm in that, is there?" Koro-sensei approved.

"She totally has a thing for him," Kayano whispered to Nagisa. "I mean she seems nice, so I guess it's kinda cute, right?"

"Might be something we can use to figure out how to kill him."

Ayami eyed the strange woman. She was no way in hell such a sweetheart. Not after she saw that horrendous disguise he was wearing. No woman in her right mind would fall for him. It could be that she was sent here by the government as well. An assassin, maybe? If she was, her disguise was definitely working on Koro-sensei. With her huge breasts, no man could resist her. Excluding Mr. Karasuma. He was probably the only one who didn't give a damn of her beauty.

Koro's head suddenly turned bright pink as a sign that he was all about her too. "Well, there's no mistaking that face." Kayano laughed. "He is all about her," Maehara added.

"He blushes like a human."

During the lunch break, everyone was playing Pass and Kill with Koro-sensei. It was a new game they invented to sharpen their assassination skills. 

"Pass and kill!" Karma passed the ball to Okano and then shot a BB at Koro-sensei. Okano then passed it to Kurahashi and decided to try and stab him, but of course, he dodged it. A shiver ran down Ayami's spine as she heard that annoying new teacher coming over to Koro-sensei. "Yoohoo! I hope I'm not interrupting anything darlings! Mr. Karasuma told me you can go Mach 20! And I just had to see it with my own eyes!" she swooned over him. "Well, he might have exaggerated a tad bit..."  
"I hate to ask you, but could you fetch me some Vietnamese coffee! I would be ever so grateful! I thought you could grab it while I run the students through their English lesson!"

"Of course, my dear! I just happen to know a fabulous cafe in Vietnam!" and with that, he was gone.

The bell rung, indicating the end of the lunch period.

"Uh, shouldn't we head back Mrs. Irina? The class is about to start," Isogai asked the blonde teacher

"Sure, whatever. Knock yourselves out." her voice dropped to a way lower level than her pitched version. She put a cigarette in her mouth and lit it the moment she said it. Her expression became serious and bored. "Teacher needs peace and quiet, so make it a study hall."

Ayami smiled mockingly, crossing her arms. "Wow, would you look at that? We got a real assassin here." The woman shot her a look, which she returned the same moment. And the attention was on the blonde woman again. "And another thing. Let's agree to not call me 'Miss.' when the octopus isn't around. And we're definitely not on the first-name basis. When he is around, call me Miss. Jelavić."

Everything was quiet for a second. "Heh, so what's your game, Miss JelaBitch?" Karma suddenly asked, pissing her off. "NO NICKNAMES!" she barked at the red-haired boy. "You're a pro, right? Just a word of warning from those who have been playing the odds...You're not gonna kill the octopus without help."

"Please, sweetheart. You're a bunch of saplings. Adults have their own way of doing things, take note." she turned to Nagisa's direction and spoke up again. "Speaking of which, you're Nagisa Shiota, right?" the boy nodded. She stepped closer to him and then kissed the guy. Kayano screamed in shock. "Do me a fav. Show me what you got. Grab your special little notebook and meet me in the faculty launch in ten minutes." She then let him go. "That goes for any of you snot-nosed punks, who got info worth sharing. Give Miss. Jelavić something useful and I'll let you go home while these gentlemen stand-in for you."

A trio of men came to the field carrying enormous bags, that probably contained guns and weapons. They came to her and greeted her, but she ignored them. "This is what separates the pros from the amateurs, boys and girls. Connections and a little thing we like to call technique." the guy on her left, handed her a golden revolver. 

"Now, piss off. Go play." she pressed the revolver to her glossy lips. Ayami's eyes widened. She's seen this gun before. Was she that woman who saved her last night? Nah, she couldn't be, right? "Oh and a word of warning from those of us who know our job; get in the way and you die."

Her seductive, manipulative plan, her shady-looking companions, her blue piercing eyes. Clearly, the class wasn't dealing with an ordinary teacher, but a genuine pro. Which would be sort of cool if she wasn't, you know... SUCH A BITCH!

"Oh and which one of you is Sakura Ayami?" Ayami stepped forward, one of her eyebrows raised and arms crossed. "Me, why?" A smirk crept up the blonde teacher's lips. She didn't remember her? Oh, well. It might have been better that way. "Karasuma is looking for you. You better hurry," she ordered. Ayami pressed her lips together into a thin line and then turned around without a word, heading to the office.

* * *

"You wanted to see me?" Ayami asked as she stepped in the office. The man stood up from his chair and walked over to the girl. "Yeah. I was told about what happened. How are you feeling?"

 _'Here we go again.'_ Ayami thought to herself. She was fine! For God's sake! It's not like she was going to die anytime soon! "I'm fine. I'm not sure what Mr. Kishitani told you, but I'm all good." Karasuma nodded in understanding. "Okay, then do you wanna explain why you passed out on your way home? That doesn't sound like fine. Are you eating alright?" he pulled out a chair for her and motioned her to sit, while he leaned at the octopus's desk.

"Yes, why wouldn't I? I have my meals planned out by my nutritionist," she repeated, feeling a little irritated by the question. She fiddled with the hem of her shorts, never taking her eyes away from his. 

It was the truth. She just didn't eat most of them.

Karasuma didn't seem to buy it. "Are you sure? I don't want you to pass out again. You could get hurt."

She fixed her gaze on the Rubix's cube on Koro-sensei's desk.

"I'm sure. It's just anemia. I forgot to take my supplements and I passed out. I'm good now, really." 

 Should she tell him? She didn't want him to have the wrong impression. "Okay then, but if you ever need someone to talk to, you can always come to me or tell the octopus. He's a good listener."

If Karasuma found out about that... she wouldn't know what to do. Ayami had the most respect for him in this whole building. And she knew he respected her as well. She couldn't lose _his_ trust. The guy was like her father in a way. And she didn't wanna lose someone like that again. Her teacher sighed.

Feeling the pressure of his gaze on her, she turned back to him.

That manipulative bastard.

"The thing is... some girls from the main campus cornered me in an alley and assaulted me. But a woman happened to be nearby and she saved me, so I doubt it will happen again. I didn't wanna tell the doctor, because he'd only make me stay there for the rest of the day." she explained, trying to hide how intimidated she felt in front of him. It was like the man could see right in her soul. He knew that very well. She had no choice, but to be honest. Partially at least. "Do you know who they were? I can have a talk with their teacher if you want."

"No, really. I'm okay. I feel like they've had enough. Can I just ask you to not tell Koro-sensei?"

"And why is that? This is a pretty serious matter."

"I don't want him to start some kind of drama. You know how protective he is. It's over, so there's no point of making the situation worse. If it happens again, I'll tell you. Really." Karasuma sighed but agreed, dismissing the girl. He didn't know what to think. Was she really okay?

Study Hall. Those were the only words written on the board during the English class when Ayami came back. The big-breasted woman was sitting on her chair, scrolling through her tablet; most likely reviewing her plan. She didn't even notice when the girl came back and took a seat at her desk.

"Uhh, Miss JelaBitch?" She cringed at the nickname that shot through her chest like an arrow. "Are you gonna teach us, or what?"

"Yea, Come on Miss. JelaBitch!" Nakamura yelled.

"No disrespect but you are a teacher, right, Miss JelaBitch?"

"AARGH! STOP YOUR 'BITCHING'! THE NAME IS JELA-VIĆ, UNDERSTAND?! JELA-WITCH IS WHAT I'LL BE IF YOU DON'T GET THE DIFFERENCE THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULLS!" she looked like a dragon spitting fire for a moment.

"Let's review! My name is Irina Jelavić! Jela V! Vić! Bite your lower lip and hum!" She leaned over the table with her hands supporting her. "Humm." Everyone hummed.

"V! Excellent! Now practice that sound quietly for the next hour, while I ignore you."

_"LAMEST LESSON EVER!"_

The next day the classes continued normally. Koro-sensei didn't suspect a thing and was totally overwhelmed when Miss Jelavić came during the breaks to support him and throw meaningless compliments at him. It was now almost the end of the 5th period, P.E. Last week, Mr. Karasuma set up some targets for the students to shoot at and they started close, but now, a week later they were already at 10 meters. He figured it the first time he started teaching, but still, these kids were sharp as hell. They were improving every day and he was very satisfied with the results.

"Huh? What?" Koro-sensei and Irina were seen together, heading to the shed.

"Oh, he's seriously falling for it."

"I can't look. To think he'd have more sense."

"Mr. Karasuma, sir?" Kataoka asked to get his attention. "I get that she's a pro, but she's not exactly easy to get along with."

"Yes, I know. I'm sorry you kids have to deal with her, but the higher-ups seem to think she's all that." His gaze turned to the woman who closed the doors of the shed. "And, well, seeing what she's been able to put together in such a short time does tend to make me agree with them."

The next moment a long period of gunshots were heard from the shed. They died down after a few seconds though.  And then a loud scream erupted, a slithering noise following. "No-ahh! Ahh!" everyone sweatdropped at the moan. "No-ahh!"

"I really want to know what he's doing to her in there," Okajima said, a light blush appearing on his cheeks.

"Well, I sure don't," Ayami spoke, grossed out.

"Let's go!" Maehara said, running towards the shed, everyone following. Koro-sensei then came out of it, his clothes all patched up and his face bright pink.

"Did you touch her boobs!?"

"If only I had the time... But class isn't going to teach itself, is it, children?"

"Umm, what exactly went on in there, sir?" Nagisa asked.

"Huh?"

Miss Jelavić came out of the shed in GYM clothes, with shaking legs and a red headband on her head.

"It would take longer to describe the things he did to this body than it did for him to do them. My back and shoulders have never felt looser, he somehow worked a facial oil massage! He changed my clothes, just because.... and he still had time to do this...thing with his tentacles." 

And finally, she collapsed on the floor, exhausted from the 'torture'.

"Koro-sensei, What is she talking about?" Nagisa asked once again

"Uh- Adults sometimes need... special care." his face turned grey and his smile disappeared for a moment. His face was completely blank, meaning he did something bad. "I don't trust that look."

"Come now! Back to the classroom boys and girls!"

"Ughh... U-Unbelievable. I've never been so humiliated in all my life! I am a professional dammit! THE OCTOPUS WILL PAY!"

* * *

The next English lesson the next day was...amusing. Miss. Jelavić was so pissed at her failed plan that she started abusing her expensive Ipad with her long acrylic nails. Ayami rested her chin on her hand and watched the annoyed professor, narrowing her eyes at her. _**"Ya know, getting angry won't solve anything, Miss. JelaBitch. Your poor tablet doesn't deserve that harsh treatment. I'm sure it was pretty expensive, right? You probably don't wanna scratch it with these nails."**_ She said in English, since well... it was English.

 _ **"Just because you're fluent in English doesn't mean you can mess with me, girlie."**_ she snapped back almost immediately.

**_"I'm bored. Teach me something, teacher."_ **

The blonde woman shot her a deadly look once again and continued. "What? You don't want me to speak English during English Class?" she only ignored her and started shaking her tablet. "Oh, come on! What's with the wifi in this place?! Are we on Mars?!"

"Wow, looks like Miss JelaBitch is pissed off. I know my mind would be in jumbles if my plan came crashing down like this."

"Excuse me, miss," Isogai spoke up.

"What," she snapped.

"If you're not going to teach us anything would you mind if we swap you out for Koro-sensei? It's just that we've got entrance exams coming up and-"

"Hah! You wanna swap me out for that disgusting creature? You're worried about entrance exams when the planet is on notice? Must be paradise not knowing your ass from a hole in the ground. Give it a rest. Even if the Earth wasn't on the brink of destruction, entrance exams are for students with a future." everyone's looks darkened.

"Newsflash, that's not any of you losers. How about this, kids; forget the studying! Help me brainstorm and I'll give you a nice percentage of the reward money. That's the best deal any of you will ever get out of life. Otherwise, knock it off with the whining and-" a rubber was thrown beside her to the blackboard.

"GET OUT."

The whole class started screaming at the arrogant woman and throwing things at her. Ayami glanced at Kayano who held her notebook up and protested loudly. She facepalmed when she saw Mr. Karasuma holding his head in anger.  

"THAT'S IT! I WILL MAKE YOU REGRET THE DAY YOU WERE BORN!"

"YEAH GO AHEAD, WE DARE YOU BITCH!"

The class became deadly silent for a few moments when she left stomping to the faculty launch to complain to Karasuma. She slammed her hands on the table in front of him.

"SOMEONE HAS TO SLAP THE PISS OUT OF THEM! I AM TOO FINE OF A WOMAN TO BE CORNERED BY A BUNCH OF PUNKS! THEY'D BE LUCKY TO LICK THE MUDD OF MY SHOES!"

"In case you haven't noticed, _sweetheart_ , the children don't exactly agree with that assessment. If you're gonna stick around for another attempt, I suggest you suck it up, march in there and give them an apology." He said coldly, still typing away on his black laptop. Irina straightened herself up. "DO WHAT!? I'M AN ACCOMPLISHED ASSASSIN, NOT A GLORIFIED RUGRAT WRANGLER. LET ME FOCUS ON WHAT I'M QUALIFIED FOR!" Karasuma closed his eyes for a moment, fatigued from the woman's obnoxious screaming.

"Ugh, fine, whatever. Just come with me, please." he stood up and walked out.

He took her out to the meadow where Koro-sensei was lying on the beach chair by a table filled with books. They stood behind the trees so he couldn't see them. "Okay, so exactly what the hell is he doing?"

"Writing out test questions. He's done this every Wednesday during the 6th period since I've been here."  
"Quick as the bastard is, you wouldn't think it would take him so long. I mean at Mach 20, I would imagine the tests would be written out and ready to go by now."

"They're tailored to each individual student. He takes into account in which subject they're good at, where they need improvement and hands out a test designed specifically for them." Irina's eyes widened. He was willing to do this much for his students?

"His IQ is off the charts. Literary. His speed puts every weapon we have to shame. He's dangerous and a damn near the perfect teacher."

They then came back to the building and Karasuma pointed his fingers at the kids, who were now playing a game outside. It was break time so some of the students decided to stretch out a bit. "Take a look at the kids and tell me what you see."

"Huh? They're just screwing around."

"They're tuning their necessary hand-eye coordination skills to hit a moving target. We decided to call it Assassination Badminton."

"What?"

"Everyone has two roles here; assassin and student. Teacher and target. It's a bizarre classroom this creature's created. Not a place for easy answers or tidy resolutions. Or one where we can fit ourselves into simple categories. I understand wanting to take pride in yourself as a professional, but if you can't cut it as an assassin and a teacher, you're toast."

"You wanna stay here, fine. Be my guest. Just treat those kids with respect."

* * *

Ayami flushed the toilet again as she grabbed the toilet paper roll, tearing it and brought it up to her lips. The soft paper muffled out her coughs and cries. She needed a few moments to stop the tears flowing out of her eyes and the burning sensation in her throat to ease a little. Her hair was falling out of her messy bun and her whole body was shaking. She managed to go a whole month without doing it. But she did it again. Ever since Koro-sensei came to this class, she felt happier than usual. She thought he would make it all go away, but oh, how wrong she was. 

_"I hope she pukes her guts out."_

No matter how many times she'd do it, she would never get used to it. She'd never get used to that burning sensation in her throat or the feeling of emptying her stomach. She hated how she cried every time, even when she knew it was just her body reacting to it naturally. She hated how Gakushuu thought that she was okay, or how he defended her with a lie.

_"Ayami-san is definitely not bulimic nor ill-mannered, she is the school's idol for a reason."_

She didn't even know what exactly triggered this purge session. She never would've thought she would puke out the home-made lunch she decided to make for herself this morning. More tears blurred out her vision and a heart-breaking sob escaped her mouth.

It took her a minute to compose herself and wipe the tears off her face. She opened the cubicle and stepped in front of the mirror. She looked like a mess. Her eyes were bloodshot, her skin pale, her hair was not even worthy of looking at. She still had about 5 minutes to tidy herself up so washed her face with cold water and applied some makeup to make her look better. Then she brushed her hair down with her fingers and made herself look presentable. Before exiting the ladies' room she took a nervous breath and put on a small smile. She could do it. If everyone here was okay, she had to be as well. It was time to stop this madness.

Ayami entered the classroom quietly and took out her English notes once again since they had two English periods; one before lunch and another one after. Of course, she knew she'd had to make her notes all by herself once again so she didn't even bother to wait for Miss. JelaBitch to start the class.

The female devil then came into the class, grabbing everyone's attention. She didn't say a word, and grabbed the chalk, writing something on the board. When she was finished, Ayami sweatdropped.

_You are incredible in bed._

"What word does incredible modify? You know this one." She didn't get a response. "Read it aloud," she instructed. Ayami blushed 10 shades of red. She used this kind of an example on junior high kids!? The others obeyed though, reading it loudly.

"I once took out an American VIP. Literary. I had my feminine grace to thank for getting me close to the target. You are incredible in bed, he told me. Incredible, in this case, modify the word _you."_

The class finally realized what she wrote on the blackboard. And they sweatdropped as well.

"To learn the grammar you've got to see how it works in the real world. Like a full-emersion course in a foreign language. Take a lover that speaks it and you can't miss. I know grammar seems boring and technical, but it's what underpins how we communicate. Communication is the key in my line of work. And in life. Whether speaking English, French, Portuguese, whatever. All people have an underline need to express their feelings. That's why this is important. The examples may be risque, but they come from real-life scenarios. They will all be either said by me or to me by someone else. And one day you might use them or hear them yourselves. Don't expect me to be like the octopus, though. He can help you with your entrance exams, which is without value, I suppose. All I can do is help you learn the art of conversation. Here's the deal: if after a while you think this is stupid, that I'm not a teacher, fine. I'll give up my assignment and leave." she said, not daring to look anyone in the eyes. Her eyebrows were furrowed cutely and her lips were pressed in an adorable pout. She blushed a moment after. "Oh, and, I'm sorry for being...such a bitch."

After a moment of silence, the class erupted in innocent laughter. "Wow talk about a 180. First, you wanna kill us, now you're acting like a wuss!" Karma exclaimed. 

"I gotta say, you make a more convincing teacher with this attitude," Maehara spoke up.

"That means we shouldn't call you Miss JelaBitch anymore," Okano added.

"Wah, you're giving me a chance? You're not upset with me?"

"To be totally fair, we didn't exactly get off on the right foot with that nickname."

"Maybe not, but we've got to call her something."

"How about Miss. HellaBitch?" Irina froze in shock. 

"Or we could just agree to move away from the whole bitch motive altogether. I'm not opposed to going by Irina if you guys don't mind calling a teacher by her first name-" she started nervously-

"Yeah sorry, I wouldn't plan on the bitch thing going away anytime soon."

"Uh..."

"Not that Miss Irina isn't a pretty name, it's just not as fun to say as HellaBitch." a dark aura appeared around the blonde teacher.

"Profesor Bitch sounds classy. How about that?" 

"I vote for that one!"

"PROFESSOR BITCH ALL THE WAY!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAARGH! I HATE YOU LITTLE DWERBS SO MUCH!!!" she yelled in a high pitched voice that made everyone laugh again. She was rough around the edges, yes. But she was going to be a great teacher.

"DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU'RE MESSING WITH!? I WILL END YOU!"

"She seems to be settling in nicely," Koro-sensei told Mr. Karasuma as they watched them from outside the classroom.

"You're so adorable when you're angry," Kurahashi told her.

"NO, I AM NOT!"


	5. Toxic Assembly

Ayami and Nakamura walked in the Chemistry Lab, talking about the latest episode of Ayami's favorite drama. None of them would've guessed they'd become...so close; maybe even friends considering the way they fought throughout the first days. Even Koro-sensei was worried about the two girls, who detested him the most at the beginning for butting into their business. They were like polar opposites; Rio Nakamura was bubbly and loud, while Ayami was cold and preferred to keep to herself. Her words cut through steel and she created this safe zone around her, which pushed people away. Nakamura saw through her fake attitude right away and decided to break that bubble. At first, she wanted to break the real person underneath it, but was entranced by the innocent aura around her and started to feel sorry for her. She wanted to know why would a sweet girl like her create a distant mask like that, but the brunette never told her. And Nakamura was okay with it for now. As long as she'd have fun with her. She maybe really did try to cover up her smiles and acted annoyed, but Nakamura knew deep down, that she was making progress. She was sure Ayami had fun with her. So Nakamura took it upon herself to bring the girl out of her little shell, and let the world see the _real_ her.

The first time the blonde met her, was at the first-year field trip. They went to Yokohama. She didn't talk to her, she just observed. She was in class C at the time and sat a few seats behind Ayami on the bus. The whole thing was mostly about scouting capable swimmers, but it was fun anyway. Not that much for Ayami though.  _She was the only one who couldn't swim._  Nakamura's first impression of her was very different than the others. Usually, she'd hear about how perfect, sweet and _rich_ she was. Rich. Yep. She was popular, yeah. But nevertheless, it seemed like she had no actual friends. Not like anyone at Kunugiagoka had real friends. The place was and still is corrupted to the core. Ayami was so out of reach to most people, that it felt useless talking to her. Sure, they'd shower her with compliments and small talks, but that was it. Guys and girls would fangirl after having a small conversation with her, but no one wanted to make strong bonds. And Nakamura knew why. She knew the position the girl was in. She experienced it herself. Forced to be the perfect little girl, having the best grades and perfect little smiles. She spent 12 years living like that. Like an ideal, porcelain doll. But perfect, for teens sadly meant boring. 

The blonde's predictions were true. She knew it, from the moment she saw her. At the end of that trip, the brunette in front of her sat alone. Nakamura wasn't sure if she felt bad for the girl, or just saw herself in her. She noticed how she changed since the first year and couldn't help but think that something was wrong. She was used to her classmates in 2-C fantasize about her almost every day. Cough _Okajima and Isogai_ cough. Yeah, the class president _had_ a huge crush on her. She wasn't sure if he still liked her though. Anyway, now that she actually came here it everything felt so fake. She looked like she went through so much shit since the last she saw her. When Nakamura picked a fight with her she had absolutely no idea what she was doing. Not even when she started babbling about how she saw through her mask. She didn't expect the feeling in her gut to be true. She had no idea the sweet girl was still in there. But she was glad it turned out this way. Because if she didn't confront her about it, Ayami would never even know where and how to come out of the darkness. Nakamura was happy she allowed her to help. Even if she didn't know her true intention.

 _'But it will take a while to get her to open up like that to others.'_ she thought, not catching a word of what her brunette friend was saying to her. "I don't know it." 

"Are you serious?" Ayami crossed her arms, giving her blonde friend a look of disapproval. But deep down, she was kinda relieved. If the blonde knew it, she wouldn't know how to continue. It's not like she actually watched the drama. She spent the whole day researching, trying to find topics for conversations. That was the way she made conversations. Research. How utterly pathetic. "Nakamura, seriously, you've gotta watch it. Korean dramas are so underrated in Japan." Nakamura laughed. "Yeah, but there's only one tiny problem. I don't speak Korean,"

"It has Japanese subtitles. Besides I can translate it to you if they won't be good. Seriously we'll laugh our asses off. You won't believe what stupid shit people do," _'Laugh? Was that even in her vocabulary?'_ Nakamura wondered with a mischevious glint in her eyes. "I totally forget you're Korean sometimes. How is your Japanese so good?" Ayami froze for a second.

"I'm only half Korean. And to answer your question; I was raised this way. My parents were pretty serious about the language arts and academics when I was a kid." Nakamura noticed the way she tensed up. She never talked about her parents before. Was that a tough topic? "Wow, that sounds tough," Ayami screamed mentally. She didn't wanna talk about it! "...It doesn't matter. Now about this drama, I don't wanna spoil it too much for you, but they've got the best fight scenes. Like seriously, we could try out some moves on Koro-sensei-"

Meanwhile, Koro-sensei, Kataoka, and Isogai were in the storage room searching for the lab equipment and putting it in five separate boxes. "Thank you for the help children, I really appreciate it." Koro-sensei thanked Kataoka and Isogai as they grabbed two boxes with lab equipment in it. Koro-sensei took the rest.

"You may have more hands than the rest of us, but it still must be a stretch for you to carry all this lab equipment by yourself." Kataoka smiled at her enormous teacher, who's face shone from happiness. "Exactly. Now it's a one trip job...No wonder you were both selected as class officers. So reliable!" 

"Thanks, but you really could've done this without us. It'd only take a couple of quick trips back and forth."

"I suppose I could've, yes. But you know what they say, the more the merrier."

"I have a question, sir," Isogai asked suddenly.

"Yes?"

"Are you starting to feel at home?"

"Wow, I can't believe you're really asking him that." Kataoka laughed. "I'd say I feel incredibly at home. As your teacher."

"That's strange."

"Really?"

"Well yeah, a creature like you taking any interest whatsoever in a group of junior high kids isn't exactly what you see every day."

"I mean you actually teach us, so it's borderline cool, just takes getting used to."

"Yeah, no kidding."

Koro-sensei opened the doors of the Chemistry lab and simply dodged the attacks of Maehara, Okajima, and Muramatsu.

"HYAH!"  
"UGH!"

They started chasing him around the classroom, trying to stab him but he just moved from table to table and set the lab equipment. "Then there's the whole assassination thing!" Isogai pointed out.

"IHHIHAHAH!" When he was done, laughed loudly as the three boys collapsed on the floor, panting from exhaustion.

"I vital part of my role, I suppose. Target and teacher, we could say it's a unique role indeed..."

"Uh- D-Did he seriously dodge three knives while prepping lab?" Maehara asked weakly, still trying to regulate his breathing. "They should know by now that was too obvious, am I right teach?" Karma stated, his head propped on the back of his hand. The octopus patted his head with one of his tentacles and then stepped in front of the blackboard.

"Alright boys and girls, let's begin."

Koro-sensei then started the lesson and did an example of extracting the color from a pocky. And the classroom went full-on into whish and whoosh. Ayami rolled her eyes, propping her head on the back of her hand.  _Booriing._ "Woow!"

"Ta-da! And that's how we extract the coloring from processed foods!"

"I'll-uh, I'll just take the left-over samples, excuse me!" He disappeared for a second and so did all the food with him. Everyone started throwing insults at the yellow octopus. "WAIT! WE BOUGHT THOSE FOR OURSELVES!"

"Is it me, or did he just use this lab to support his junk food habits between paychecks?"

"Yeah, seems like it,"

"My question is why the superb organism has to live on a teacher's salary in the first place?”

A few moments passed when Okuda Manami stepped up the front, holding three bottles of strange liquid behind her back. Her shoulders were tense and she kept her gaze locked to the floor.

"Okuda-san?"

"I-uh...Well...."

"Go on, speak up. What can I do for you?"

"Um... Poison, sir! Would you drink it please?!"

"...Well, she doesn't beat around the bush," Maehara stated, a drop of sweat running down his forehead.

"I'm sorry, is this weird?"

"It's certainly a very straightforward assassination attempt, I'll give you that,"

"The thing is sir, I'm not very good at being sneaky. I mean everyone else is so good at this stuff; but me, what I'm good at is chemistry. And I put my heart and soul into this mixture," the girl explained, her eyes shining behind her glasses.

"...Alrighty then,"

"Umm, Okuda...Points for throwing in, but no one's that stupid," Sugino said.

"Your heart and soul?" His eyes started glowing with love and satisfaction. "DON'T MIND IF I DO THEN!" 

"Well, someone apparently is..." Ayami added, scorning the stupid octopus. 

"Do you think this could actually work?"

"It could be..." Everyone stopped when his head turned bright blue and two horns appeared on top.

_"Or he could just grow horns..."_

"AAH, that was interesting! Sodium carboxide I believe? Good try, Okuda-san! If I were human I'd most definitely be dead,"

_'_ _Well_ _,_ _that's_ _reassuring.'_

"Shall I try the other two as well?"

"Yes, please!"

"Right! Cheers!" the liquid ran smoothly down his... um, throat and he started trembling and groaning. "ARHGHGHARHAHG!"

_"He grew wings this time!?"_

"Wow! He's starting to look kinda fancy!"

"Impressive! Let's see what the last one does!"

"Oh-oh!"

"Not sure I wanna see this!"

"ARAGAGAHGAGRHHAG-" the screams were louder this time and they lasted longer. But everyone was left dumbfounded when his face turned boring grey and his smile was replaced with an unreadable expression.

_"That's boring,"_

"He just keeps getting weirder and weirder,"

"I don't like this face. It's creeping me out,"

"If you hate me I understand. But please; don't hate assassination,"

_"WHAT'S THAT EVEN SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?"_

"Also young lady," He continued as he turned back to normal. Well... _back to yellow_. "As your teacher, I can't overlook the fact that you handled toxic substances unsupervised!"

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

"Don't worry, I have an idea! Why don't we work together on a poison that has a little bit of an effect?"

"Huh? Oh, sure!"

" Well, this has definitely reached a whole new level."

"Doesn't seem like this is gonna end in success if you ask me," Kayano said blankly.

"Might get some good notes out of it though, " Nagisa added. 

* * *

The classes ended and the kids decided to play a game of Assassination Badminton before going home. They split into two groups, while Okuda stayed in the Chemistry lab with Koro-sensei. She explained how she loved science and maths because there's no way someone would misunderstand her. But with language arts, she always froze up because she couldn't express herself the way she wanted. "I see the appeal. Tell you what, Okuda. I have a special homework assignment just for you." He took out a neatly folded piece of paper and handed it to her. "Remember though, safety first!"

Sugino's group scored, jumping in excitement. "Okay, red team's winning!" Maehara announced, holding the scoreboard. Ayami smiled at Nakamura who would've crushed her with a huge hug if she hadn't stepped to the side. The blonde tripped over a rock and almost fell. "What's wrong Nakamura? Having trouble with coordination?" she laughed at the girl who shot her a glare and then started laughing as well.

Suddenly, a ball hit her back with a great force, which made Ayami collapse on her knees, "Look at that, the oh-so-great princess was pushed in the mud!" Ayami clenched her teeth in anger and turned back to see Karma, smirking at her from the other side of the net. "What the hell Akabane! Why did you do that?!" He only shrugged, that stupid smirk still on his face. "We were playing, you should've paid attention,"

" _Listen_ , you-"

"Sakura-san! Your knees are bleeding!" Kurahashi exclaimed, pointing at her bloody knees with a worried look. "Huh?" she looked down to see her knees covered in blood. She felt the stinging sensation and cursed under her breath. _"Great."_

"Are you okay?" Nakamura asked her.

"Yeah, I'll just go and wash up. And tell me who wins," she responded softly, brushing the dust off her gym shorts and left the court.

Her classmates resumed their game and Ayami was walking up the stairs when a voice called after her. "Sakura-san!" She turned around and saw Isogai running up to her. "Isogai?"

"Let me get the first aid. I'll help you."  
"No, you don't have to! I can do it myself. It's just a scratch," she awkwardly smiled, waving her hands to assure him she was fine. Isogai didn't buy it though. In fact, he even noticed the scrapes on her hands. "Oh, look. Your hands are hurt as well! Wait here. I'll be right back."

Before she could protest he disappeared in the building. She laughed and sat down on the stairs, noticing how the sky started to get golden. It was such a pretty sight and she wondered if her father was looking at it.

Probably not, he's too busy with his work.

_'But mom would love to see it.'_

She groaned. Why did she keep reminding herself of her? It's been three months already, why was she still thinking about her? She buried her head in her hands. She just wanted to get over it. No more tears, no more pain, _she wanted to be happy_. 

"You okay?" she jumped at the voice. Isogai sat next to her, opening the first aid kit.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she smiled. "I was just thinking."

"About what?" he asked, putting a wet cloth on her leg and cleaned the dried blood off. He proceeded to clean the wound and disinfect. Ayami fought off a blush, looking away. Was he always _this_ nice?

"It's not important."

"You seemed pretty sad."

"It's 'cause my legs hurt,"

"...Sure."

Ayami nibbled on the inside of her cheek, her eyebrows furrowed. It was a bad habit of hers and she knew she had to get rid of it. Isogai looked at her and had to force down a laugh. _'She's cute.'_

"It's true..."

"I believe you." she looked at him. He was being so nice to her, even after she acted like a brat. He gently put a bandage on her knees and repeated the process on her other knee in silence.

"It's been almost a month since we came here," he spoke up again.

"I know,"

"And?" he asked.

"And what?"

"How do you feel with us here?"

"To be honest," She spoke with a sigh, looking at her classmates who were cheering and laughing at the court. "I actually feel like I'm a part of something. It's so different from A-Class,"

"In a good way?"

"Yeah, definitely. A-Class and everyone on the main campus will suck up to your ass if you're one on top. But when you get down, you see how fake people really are. It's funny actually. How I never noticed this."

"And you? Were you fake as well?" Ayami looked at the boy, wondering where were his unusual questions coming from? Why would he want to know all this?

"I don't know... I changed a lot so I don't know what was real back then. I feel like I've been living my whole life the way my parents wanted me to."

"What made you change?" She looked down at her hands that rested in her lap.

"I-uh, my mother died."

Isogai tensed up. "Sorry. I didn't mean to-"  
"No, it's fine. I wanted to take it off my chest already." she swallowed, not daring to look at the boy next to her. She didn't know why she was telling him all this. She didn't even tell Nakamura about it.

"I miss her. A lot."

"I know how you feel. My father died two years ago." Her hands went cold and she forced herself to look at him. "Oh. I'm sorry."

They stayed silent for a moment. "Does it still hurt?" she asked after a while.

"It gets better. It'll always hurt like hell, but with time you'll realize that she's at a better place now," he gave her a soft smile, which she returned with tears in her eyes. He grabbed the bandage and put it on her other knee. "Ouch."

"Sorry,"

"It's your fault if it scars." She said, puffing out her cheeks. Isogai laughed in response.

"I should go. It's getting late and I don't wanna walk in the dark." 

She stood up and helped Isogai clean up the kit. Then they walked into the building and Ayami threw the bloody papers away, while Isogai returned the first aid kit into the storage room. Ayami then went to the classroom to get her uniform and changed in the bathroom.

She took a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror and froze for a moment. She pushed her hair back and took a deep breath. No matter how much she liked being here or how much she liked the people here, she still couldn't stop hating herself. She rolled her eyes in annoyance and opened the door.

"You done?"

"Yeah. By the way, isn't Manami still in the Chemistry Lab with Koro-sensei?"

"I think so,"

"What do you think he'll make her do? 'Cause I'm pretty sure he won't give her the instructions to actually make a real poison."  
"I have no idea, we'll see tomorrow." Ayami laughed.

_'Yeah, in this class, every tomorrow is actually worth looking forward to.'_

Ayami said goodbye to her classmates who wanted to play a little more to finish the game and left to the train station. Taking out her phone from her bag, she checked the time and her eyes widened that she only had 10 minutes before the last train left. She shoved her phone back in and decided to run so she could catch it.

She grabbed the silver pole to support her shaky legs and took a minute to catch her breath. "Made it..."

About 20 minutes passed when she finally reached her stop and left the train station. The sky was already dark and the only light she was receiving was from the tall street lamps, which were set far apart, so they couldn't cover the whole area. She passed a nearby park, which was filled with beautiful cherry blossom trees, that could steal people's breaths. But at night, it seemed kinda scary...

"Meow," 

"Huh?" Ayami directed her gaze to the side of the street, where the sound came from. There lay a small white cat with eyes as blue as topaz. Ayami crouched down and reached out her hand.

"Hey, kitty... Come here,"

The cat slowly approached her and then jumped into her arms, purring softly. The two cuddled for a while until a voice called the brunette from the behind. She almost jumped out of her skin from the shock.

"What are you doing?" Ayami turned around, the cat still in her arms.

"Karma?"

"Why are you standing in the middle of the sidewalk in the dark? It's like you're begging to be attacked by some creep."

"I-uh...found a cat."

"That’s my cat." Her face fell. She maybe thought she could take it home, but now it was out of the question.

"Oh."

"You want it?"

"What? No no, I don’t need a cat, here." She handed the cat to him, but he refused to take it. Then he laughed loudly. Ayami raised her eyebrows in confusion.

"I was messing with you. I don’t have a cat."

" _What?!_ Seriously Akabane, you can’t go a day without making fun of someone?”

”Nope.” He stuck out his tongue and Ayami could swear she saw devil horns appear on his head.

"So it doesn’t have an owner?” He went back to being serious.

"...Yeah, probably. People bring cats like that to parks so they can get rid of them or something. You gonna take it home?" 

"Huh? I don’t know... What are you doing here anyway?"

 "My house is up ahead,"

"Oh,"

"Yeah. You?”

”I live close.”

His smirk reappeared on his face. “Haha, so the great princess lives near me, huh?”

Ayami shot him a look. ”I’m not a princess.” He rolled his eyes. ”Yeah sure.”

The cat suddenly meowed. “It’s time to decide. You taking it or not?”

Ayami looked at the small kitty and lifted it up to her face. “You’re going home with me, Mio.” The cat purred softly.

“Mio? As in cherry blossom?”

”Yep.” 

"Great, now let's go," he ordered and walked ahead. "Yeah yeah, I'm-" she stopped in her tracks. "Wait. Who said I'm going with you?"

The boy shrugged. "I'm only offering you a safe pass home. I figured you don't wanna be tackled down by some rapist on the way." Ayami snickered and closed her eyes. "Pfft. I can take care of myself pretty well. Thank you though." There she was again. Protecting herself with her horrible act.

Karma narrowed his eyes at the girl, his hands in his pockets. "What? Do you really want to walk me home that badly? I'm sure you just want to know where-"

Before she could finish that sentence Karma slammed her against the wall and covered her mouth with his hand. Ayami's eyes widened in suprise and fear as she saw the look in his eyes. It reminded her of a lion, ready to kill an antelope. Usually, his eyes would glow with a passion to ruin someone's day. Nevertheless, he'd always smile a second later. Even if it was sadistic. But now, his lips were pressed in a thin line. His eyes glowed for a second. She must've imagined it. The only thing she could see was raw anger. And she was terrified of it. Her heart thumped against her chest hard and fast. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears and feel her blood go cold. She gripped the kitten in her arms tightly, afraid she'd really be alone with Karma if it ran away. She could feel him get closer and if she could disappear; then she definitely would disappear right there and then.

His hot breath lingered on her neck and she shot her eyes closed, afraid of what would happen next. She had never seen this side of him. Is this what it feels like to be one of his victims? Will he hit her? Then, she heard him chuckle in her ear. "Protect yourself? Yeah, sure." Then, he backed off and stuck his tongue out. Ayami stood still, unable to respond.

"W-What?" She asked, her voice shaking. Karma chuckled at her shaken state. "You're so tense, princess. Don't take everything so seriously." Ayami's face went blank when she realized what just happened. 

_He was testing her. He was testing if she was all bark and no bite. And he was damn right. She had nothing but a big mouth._

"Oh my God Akabane," she yelled, stomping her foot furiously. "You can't just do something like that!"

"Stop yelling and get going already."

* * *

Next day was pretty... interesting. Okuda came to class with a bottle of poison, cheerfully telling everyone how Koro-sensei helped her make the poison that would actually have an impact on him. "He even drew a manga on lab’s safety." Nagisa pointed out.

"He’s probably the best damn teacher to let his student make a poison that would kill him," Maehara said, staring at the paper. 

"Nice, right? I think it's his way of encouraging me. I'm good at chemistry, not words. He says to focus on my strengths."

The mentioned octopus suddenly entered the classroom, greeting everyone with his usual cheerful attitude. "Good morning everyone! Take your seats please!"

"There he is, go give it to him!" Kayano encouraged her.

"Okay, wish me luck..."

"Here it is sir! Just like you asked!"

"Ahh, nice work! Well, here's to your health, children, _salut_!" he spilled the whole liquid into his mouth and his eyes turned a bright red for a second. He was at it with his weird laugh again and the muscle-flexing again. Ayami rolled her eyes at the show he was putting on. Of course, he wasn't stupid enough to make a poison that would kill him. That would be too easy.

"THANK YOU OKUDA! THANK YOU VERY MUCH INDEED! THIS MIXTURE IS PRECISELY WHAT I NEEDED TO LEVEL UP!"

The shy girl froze in horror, her eyes wide. "I-I"

The red glow faded and the next moment he was lying on his desk, in a silver liquid form... "You didn't think that was poison, did you? On the contrary, I had you whip up a special tonic designed to increase my fluidity!" he said in a creepy voice and disappeared the next second. "In this form, I can fit into the tiniest nooks and crannies,"

"What are you doing in there!?"

He was found under Kataoka's desk and he disappeared again, flying through the classroom. 

"Best of all, I LOSE NONE OF MY SPEED!" His manuevers gave everyone the chills and they had to cover their faces from the cold breezes he created. "HAYA!! TRY TO HIT ME!" 

"THIS IS MESSED UP DUDE!" Mimura screamed, pointing his gun somewhere in the air. "What in the world did you give him?!" Kayano asked Okuda.

"You tricked me! That's not fair!"

"Hmm..." a smile appeared on his face suddenly. "YES I DID! Verbal deception is a vital part of a successful assassin's tool kit."

"Huh?"  
"What are you talking about, sir?"

"Approaching the target so naively is a good way to fail at your mission. Even the deadliest of poisons is useless if one can't persuade the mark to drink it."  He returned to his normal yellow form.

"Nagisa, let's say you wanted to poison me. How would you do it?"  
"Well let me think, I'd probably put it in something you liked. And then I would offer it to you as a gift,"

"Excellent! To deceive someone you have to get inside their heads. Know what they respond to, use language creatively. In poisoning, as in life, the key to success in communication. Imagine that one day you make an earthshattering scientific discovery. How can it benefit mankind if it stays locked inside your head? Knowing the right thing to say can make all the difference. Right?"

"Right!" Okuda smiled at him. "Thank you, sir!"

"Hahahah, nice move teach! Turn the tables, ha? No kidding." Karma laughed.

Ayami looked around the class. Everyone was smiling softly and she knew exactly why. Their Koro-sensei, their perfect teacher gave them another wonderful lesson before he even began his real one. He gave great advice, shared his experiences and warned them about his mistakes. He even made sure that they didn't repeat them by whipping them out of their heads. They, the class who is supposed to kill him has a long way because he's just that good. He's the unkillable Koro-sensei.

* * *

"Wait, you're telling me that the school assembly is _today_?!" Ayami asked Nakamura, her eyes wide. The blonde dragged her outside the building, trying to catch up with the others.

"Yeah, don't tell me you forgot about it. Koro-sensei reminded us on Monday,"

Ayami facepalmed. "Ugh, this is a disaster. I was planning to ditch the whole day and pretend that I was sick,"

"Oh no no, you're not ditching assembly. This is really important, you could get in a lot of trouble!"

"I know... but I don't think I can face anyone right now," _Especially after that thing with the bulimic rumor and everything._

"Believe me, nobody wants to go, but do you think we have a choice? Besides I can tell you that last time wasn't that bad. But seriously, you should never ditch the assembly. It'll only be worse if you do." Ayami sighed and pushed back her hair. "I know, I know... I'll go."

"Don't worry, Ayami-chan! I'll be right beside you."

"I told you not to call me that!" Nakamura chuckled.

"Quit dragging your feet! There's no telling what messed up stuff they'll make us if we show up late again." Isogai said speeding up as he led the group down the mountain.

"Last time we had to clean up the flower beds." Okano reminded the two guys. "Man that sucked, those freaking things were the size of a house," Maehara complained.

"What are you bitching about? We did all the work," Maehara laughed. "I was moral support,"

"Well, all that wouldn't be necessary if you came on time. Yada and I didn't have any problems last time," Nakamura sighed, throwing her hands behind her head as she watched Okano complain about how unfair E-Class was treated.

Then, a loud scream was heard in the back near the bridge. The bridge which was definitely not safe to cross.

"WHO'S THE GENIUS WHO TOLD US THIS IS A SHORTCUT?"

"OKAJIMA!"

A minute later the three boys; Mimura, Okajima, and Chiba caught up with the group. Okajima's uniform was completely soaked, indicating that he probably fell in the river. Ayami sweatdropped.

"What happened?"  
"The bridge collapsed," Mimura said, moving towards the head of the group.

"AAH! WHY ARE THERE SNAKES?!" the girls in the back screamed. A moment later, the snakes attacked the poor boy.

"LOOK OUT OKAJIMA!!"

"WAAAH! WHY ARE THERE FALLING BOULDERS!?" Terasaka and his group screamed suddenly.

"WATCH OUT OKAJIMA!" Everyone screamed after him as they watched him run in front of a giant moving rock with snakes still wrapped around his body.

"WHOSE BIG IDEA WAS TO POKE A BEEHIVE!?" Sugino screamed. But then Okajima ran through and attracted the attention of the bees.

"LOOK OUT OKAJIMA!" The boy sprinted down the mountain road, cursing every possible thing in the world.

"He's uh, not having a very good day, is he? I hope the poor guy's alright," Sugino sweatdropped.

It was time for a short break.

Ayami leaned on the tree and slowly let herself fall onto the floor, still panting. Why was this trip so exhausting? Nothing like that happened when they'd normally go up and down the mountain. 

"I’m exhausted," Nakamura breathed out, letting herself fall on the floor next to Ayami.

"Ughh, can we be done with the rocks and the bees and the things trying to kill us?" Kayano screamed in frustration.

"I'm glad Okajima was around to take the hits for us,"

A moment later, Mr. Karasuma walked over to the group. "Anyone hurt?"

"I think we're mostly okay," Nagisa answered.

"Good, no rush. In fact, at this rate, we're making fairly excellent time,"

"WAIT FOR MEEE! UGH, WAY TO DITCH ME JERKS!"

"Hey, professor Bitch!" Kayano said cheerfully. The blonde professor fell on her hands and knees, panting heavily.

"Ugh, no one said anything about a class trip during lunch,"

"Yeah no offense professor, but you look wrecked."

"YOU TRY RUNNING THROUGH NATURE IN HEELS!" She screamed loudly, shooting daggers at Sugino.

"Umm, Mr. Karasuma, where's Koro-sensei?" Nagisa asked then.

"We told him to wait at the main campus. It wouldn't be good for other students to see him." Nagisa sweatdropped. Right, He totally forgot about him being a giant octopus-like monster. "Well, the main campus isn't much further away. Are you ready?"

"Yeah..." Everyone nodded and continued their way down to the main campus.

* * *

"That. Sincerely. Sucked." Okajima breathed out, finally getting rid of the snakes that almost choked him to death.

"Well, at least we're not late."  
"Yeah, no idea how that happened."

"Hurry up, people! We gotta get in line before they start!"

 _"Okaayy..."_ Everyone said in unison. They were clearly exhausted.

The E-Class formed a straight line in the gymnasium and waited for the other students to get inside as well. Of course, some bastards started throwing some dumb-ass comments at Nagisa, who stood behind Ayami.

"HEYY, NAGISA! Wow! I'm surprised you made it! Must've been one heck of a trip rolling down the mountain!"

She glanced at the two boys. Class D? Takada Choosuke and Tanaka Nobuta.  _Booriing._

Without a second thought she stepped up in front of her classmate, her violet eyes narrowed at the duo and arms crossed. "I'd keep my mouth shut if I were you. Being a D-Class isn't exactly reputable as well. You could end up in the sticks as well if you're not careful. So try to keep your thoughts to yourself."

"Aren't you... Sakura-san?!"

"What the hell? You're a part of E-Class too?" the one with green hair said. "Yeah, didn't you hear? She's the one that passed out from exhaustion. I told you right after finals. The other one laughed and she immediately shot her chin up, trying to look as intimidating as possible.

_'Don't listen to them.'_

"So? Does that bother you? At least you got one place higher." 

"I can't believe it. Why the hell are you the one talking if you're in E-Class now? I can't believe we're in a higher spot than you now." The brunette snickered, shifting her weight to her other leg. "Please. That doesn't mean you'll do better than me on the midterms."

"You wish! We'll see who'll do better!"

"Why don't we make a bet then?" The boys stepped back, finally seeing the look in her eyes. They swore to themselves that they saw her eyes glowing. "W-What!? What kind of a bet did you have in mind?" Ayami smiled to herself as she saw how she suddenly ended up in the center of attention. "Oh, you know. Just a harmless bet. If one of you scores better than me, I'll do whatever you want me to do for a week. And I really mean whatever." There was an intense moment of silence. The boys looked at each other, their eyes glittering. "However, if I win... You'll leave Nagisa and the rest of us alone. And you'll apologize to him."

"Fine! We're not scared!" Tanaka exclaimed, leaving the other one speechless. He extended his hand, visibly shaking. Ayami smirked at that. And took a step closer. "We got ourselves a deal!"

"Are you two out of your minds?" a boy who stood behind them asked them. "Just because she's in E-Class for this semester doesn't mean she's not coming back." 

Ayami's smirk slowly faded away. So, before they could back off, she shook his hand and turned around, without saying another word. 

"Ayami, you didn't have to-" Nagisa stuttered, feeling guilty. _'What if she'll lose? She wouldn't, right? She's Sakura Ayami, one of the smartest students here. Right?'_

"It's fine. Don't worry Nagisa, I won't lose. They were practically begging for it. Besides, where's the harm in giving them a little motivation? _You don't want them to end up with us, right?_ "Ayami reassured the boy, eyes now fixed on the teacher who made his way to the podium. Nagisa froze at the way she said that. How did she know they were on the verge of failing?

"What was that, Ayami-chan?" Nakamura asked with a proud smile, nudging the girl in the ribs. "Ouch!" she winced, "Don't call me that."

"Girl, your eyes started glowing! What the hell?! Wait... are you a vampire?"

"Nakamura?"

"Yeah?"

_"Stop watching Twilight."_

Soon, the assembly began. 

"I am proud to lead you on your paths, but don't forget! If you get too comfortable, let E-Class remind you of what happens if you slack off."  
The hall erupted in laughter. Four classes, each with 30 students; laughed at the already humiliated E-Class. Ayami was shocked. Even when she was in the A-Class, they'd never mistreat the E's at the assemblies. Sure, they'd be mistreated outside classes, but they never took it to the assembly. This school was turning into hell. "Now, now! It's unkind to laugh at their expense-"

"Hey Nagisa, why isn't Karma here?" Sugaya asked the blue-haired boy.

"Because he's ditching."

"What? Is he out of his mind?"

"No, it's not like he doesn't know he'll get in trouble. He just doesn't care... I wish I had the grades to get away with that."

"Now we'll have an address by the student council. Student council members please come up to the podium-"

Ayami rolled her eyes as she saw Teppei Araki get comfortable at the podium and started talking crap. She diverted her attention to the teacher's line, where she saw Mr. Karasuma introduce himself to the homeroom teacher of D-Class. She noticed how he suddenly approached Nakamura and Kurahashi, telling them to put their decorated knife cases away. His behavior, of course, caused the chatterboxes of Kunugigaoka to talk. She even overheard a complaint about why can't other teachers be as hot as him. 

The next thing that aroused more attention was Professor Bitch's great entrance. The woman barely stood on her own legs a few minutes before, but it seemed she recovered very quickly. She practically owned the eyes of everyone; students and staff.

"Five minutes ago, she was down on all fours, but damn look at her work it!" Sugino pointed out.

"Don't tell me she's the E-Class teacher too."

"Why are all this year's E-Class teachers so hot?"

Ayami shook her head.  _'If they saw Koro-sensei... '_

"What are you doing here?" Karasuma asked Irina, not even glancing at her.

"Don't even try to pull rank on me. I'm an educator, just like you are."

"So you're finally embracing your role?"

"Or I just need an excuse to scoop up the student body." she crossed her arms in front of her chest as she took notice of Nagisa's bullies, who were drooling over her. "Mijaaw... Said nobody ever." 

Then she stepped over to Nagisa and asked him if he added any new weaknesses to his little notebook. And when he told her he didn't, she pushed him into her boobs! Ayami covered her eyes in disbelief. ' _WHAT THE HELL!? COULDN'T SHE AT LEAST TRY AND ACT LIKE A TEACHER?'_

"Professor Bitch, why do you have to embarrass us even more!?" Nakamura yelled at the blonde woman.

A moment later, Mr. Karasuma grabbed her by the collar and practically dragged her back to the teacher's line. Poor guy, having to deal with _her_ as his coworker... "Owww"

"Okay, all the upcoming events for this month are detailed in the handouts you've just been given." Araki started again. 

"Hang on, how come we didn't get any?" Okajima asked.

Isogai asked for the handouts, but the arrogant asshole even had the balls to arrange that, of course, the E-Class didn't get the handouts.

"The bastard needs to get his jaw punched a few times." Ayami hissed.

A moment later, the students of E-Class felt a familiar breeze and were now all holding a copy of those stupid handouts. Ayami smiled as she saw her teacher dressed in a stupid disguise with a wig on his head.

"Oh, nevermind, we have some! My mistake, sorry." Isogai reported with a smug smile on his face.

"Huh? How! Okay, who's the wise guy, who killed our fun- I mean" he cleared his throat. "As I was saying before, if you'll take a closer look at the event schedule, you'll notice we have quite a few things packed in the next week."

"I thought we agreed we couldn't let the other students see you. What part of _state secret_ do you refuse to understand?" Karasuma asked with an irritated tone in his voice.

"Relaax. My disguise is flawless! Nobody suspects a thing!"

The class sweatdropped at his not-flawless-at-all disguise. "Looks like somebody got a little lonely, ha?" 

Then they laughed at Irina, who was grabbed by Mr. Karasuma for trying to stab Koro-sensei in public.

"Oh well, I'll say this much for her, she never quits," Maehara said, an amused look on his face.

* * *

"I'll catch up with you in a sec. I'll just get a drink," Nagisa told Sugino and the others and went over to the vending machine. He put a few coins in and took a carton of juice out. 

Then he heard somebody calling him.

 "Oi, Shiota!"

"You proud of yourselves? Acting like you're having the time of your lives?" Choosuke Takada asked, his eyebrow twitching in irritation.

"Laughing during assembly? Not cool. You bums ever heard of respect? And you should tell that friend of yours to keep her nose in her own business." Nobuta Tanaka

"If I was in E-Class I'd keep my head down and my mouth shut. And I'd as sure as hell wouldn't have a reason to laugh."

"Hey, watch it with that look! I'm warning you."

"Something you wanna say, scumbag? You want me to kill your ass!?"

 _'Kill? Really? You're really gonna kill me?'_ Nagisa thought to himself as Tanaka grabbed his collar and lifted him up to his face. Then, his eyes glowed. He smirked.

"Like you've got the balls to try. Go right ahead." 

The two bullies were shocked by Nagisa's unusual behavior and took a step back. Nagisa paid no attention to them however and simply walked away.

"Dude what? What was that all about?"

"Damn, he's a psycho. Just like that friend of his."

"Do you think..." Tanaka said with a shaky voice. "...that they're vampires?"

"Tanaka... _Stop watching Twilight._ "


	6. Midterms

It was that time of the year.

"LET'S BEGIN, SHALL WE?"

 _"Begin, what exactly?"_ the class wondered, noticing the hyped teacher carrying a stack of books and putting it on his desk.

"Studying for midterms, of course! And that is why I'll be making this period a high-speed midterm super study hall! My doubles will provide special one-on-one attention! I'll be drilling everyone, individually, on areas where you need improvement most!"

Yeah, midterms were close... And nobody was excited. Kayano slammed her head against her desk and Mimura was left with his mouth wide open. They totally forgot about the exams... and Ayami got her period along with a few other girls so it wasn't exactly a great day to start studying. It was also raining buckets outside. Koro-sensei on the other hand somehow managed to create a whole bunch of doubles of himself to attend to every student individually.

"AYAMI-SAN! LET'S BEGIN! WE'LL WORK ON YOUR CHEMISTRY TODAY, AND LET'S HOPE IT'LL LIGHT A SPARK BETWEEN US!" 

"..." _Was this octopus serious?_ " Her eye twitched in annoyance as she hugged her lower stomach, shivers running down her body.

"Okay...so about the exercise 28," he looked at her notebook, immediately seeing her mistake.

"Ahh, I see the problem. You weren't paying attention and miscalculated the pH. It's a harmless mistake actually, but on the exam I expect you to be in the best shape! No carelessness, okay Ayami-chan?"

"Don't call me that," she snapped at the octopus, who...started crying. Hard. It was like two waterfalls started flowing down his emoji-like face. "But...Nakamura calls you that all the time! Why can't I?"

"Whatever," Ayami sighed and continued working despite the feeling of her gut tearing itself apart. "You're just gonna ignore me?! Ayami-chan!!" she could feel her eye twitch in annoyance. "Question 36!" the octopus stopped immediately. "Ahh yes, you see this one is quite a puzzler. What you need to do here is..."

"Man, this is bullshit. Does he seriously gotta wear a different headband for every subject?" Terasaka complained, uncomfortably shifting in his seat. The overly enthusiastic teacher appeared in front of him, a new headband wrapped around his round yellow head. This one had 'Naruto' written in bold text.

Terasaka smacked his fist on the table.

"GIMME A BREAK MAN! NARUTO ISN'T EVEN ON THE TEST!"

_'Look at him go! Is it just me or is he getting faster? I mean; 6 doubles for Japanese, 8 doubles for Math, 3 for Social Studies, 5 for Science, 4 for English and one for Naruto. A Koro-sensei for each of us... and there's two of them chilling outside and drinking soda.'_

Half of his face suddenly went missing. Everyone sweatdropped.

_'Karma.'_

Ayami instantly whipped her head in Karma's direction, only to see him wink at Koro's angered face that was missing a good half and stuck his tongue out. The brunette shook her head in disapproval.  _This boy._

"KNOCK IT DOWN, KARMA! NO SNEAK ATTACKS DURING STUDY HALL! THIS IS VERY DIFFICULT, SO TRY NOT TO DISRUPT MY CONCENTRATION!" 

"Won't all of this wear you out, Sir?" Nagisa asked him. The octopus laughed as he explained his situation. "Of course not! I have two of my doubles on R&R duty."

"R&R, as in Rest and Relaxation?" Kanzaki giggled.

"Exactly! NOW LET'S GET TO WORK!” he threw his tentacles in the air and did a crazy seaweed dance for a second and then continued his duplication method to teach every student individually.

“Ayami-chan, I noticed you have a tiny bit of problems with memorization. You study, that's for sure, but your concentration seems to descend as the day goes on. I suggest that you start using this simple trick to keep your brain more concentrated. According to your notes, you seem to be the typical visual type. You use highlighters a lot, so try to make good use of it. Sort it by color and make some flashcards for all the formulas."

"Oh, okay."

"Also, you should drink a lot to stay focused. Keep a bottle of water on your desk and drink when you feel your mouth going dry."

"Okay, thank you sensei."

"I have a question for you."

"Yeah?" she looked up at him. He started crying again. _What is wrong with him!?_ "I heard you made a bet with two students of D-Class in order to protect Nagisa!! I'm so proud of you! At first, I honestly thought you were going to put up with all the bullying and everything but I'm so glad that I was wrong!! Ayamii-chan!!!" He completely broke down and tried to hug her.

"Stop crying. You're gonna get your snot on my books," she replied coldly, pushing his head away, so he stumbled back, almost losing his balance.

"As cold as ever I see," Sugino smiled at her. She laughed in response. "Of course."

_'That's the only way to go.'_

* * *

"Okay people! Get changed for P.E." Karasuma ordered as he stepped into the classroom. 

"Okay!" the class chanted in unison.

When everyone got to the field and lined up in the usual groups, Karasuma finally started his class. Now instead of practicing the moves solitary, he asked the students to get into pairs, so they'd spar each other. 

"Oh yeah! That's going to be really fun!"  Maehara shouted in excitement and high fived Isogai. Everyone seemed to be in a sudden hurry to find their partner.

_'Find partners?'_

Of course, there's 27 of us, someone will have to be alone. Ayami bet it was going to be her as she saw Kataoka walk up to Nakamura. She paid no mind to it and continued to scan through the crowd. Hara and Hazama found a place on her left and beside them were Okano and Yada, then Kayano and Nagisa, Muramatsu, Yoshida, Sugino and Okajima, Karma and Teraska, Isogai and Maehara...  _Wait._

_'Karma and Terasaka? How did that happen?'_

"I guess they are the strongest here."

She really thought she was gonna be paired with Mr.Karasuma until she felt a light tap on her shoulder. "Ayami?"

"Hmm?" she turned around, her eyes meeting Isogai's. "Isogai? What-"

"Do you have a partner? If not, I can be your partner," he asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh. No. Wait aren't you partners with Maehara?" She asked, one of her eyebrows raised."That was the plan, but he decided to take on Mr. Karasuma. Apparently, I'm too slow for him." Thank goodness. She really didn't wanna end up with the man.

"So he ditched you for Karasuma? Well, that's just bitchy." he shot her a sheepish smile.

 _'Not really. He just offered to do it because he knows that I like you.'_ Of course, he couldn't say that out loud. "Don't worry about it."

"Okay, sure. Just so you know, fighting isn't really my thing."

"Same here haha.."  _'Is that really all you've got? Come on Yuuma, this is your chance!'_

"Okay, I hope you've found your partners! You can start! Remember to keep your eyes on the target!"

 _'Okay'_ Isogai thought to himself. _'Eyes on the target. No problem.'_

Gym class ended pretty quickly. Karasuma was actually impressed by how the first sparring lesson played out. They weren't the worst. Just rookies. They've still got time. Not a lot, but enough to polish those skills and make their knives sing. 

"Nagisa and Kayano had to stay behind because it's their turn to be on cleaning duty," Okano informed the group of girls which was ready to leave the campus. The boys had already left since they didn't need as much time changing as most of the girls. Well, what can you say, a girl needs her time.

Ayami shrugged. "Sucks for them. Now let's grab something to eat. All this fighting made me hungry." 

"Aww, Kayano and Nagisa! Together?! Am I the only one who thinks they'd be super cute together?" 

"Considering they're both awkward and short, yeah. They wouldn't look too bad." Rio laughed and shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her gym jacket.

"Aren't you gonna change?" Ayami asked, eyeing her gym attire. Her shirt was still sweaty and it wasn't exactly warm outside. "It's pretty windy today." the girls agreed with her. "Nah, I'm gonna have to bail on you anyways. I've got to pick up some groceries and I don't wanna do laundry today."

"Okay whatever, just try to not catch a cold."

"Aww is my little Ayami worrying about me?! Never thought this day would come!" Rio threw her arms around Ayami who flinched in surprise. "Hey! Get off me!" Nakamura ignored her friend and jumped on her back, tickling her in the process. "Yah! Nakamura!" she laughed out.

"Oh my god, you two are so childish," Yada chuckled as the blonde finally got off the brunette. "How am I childish?"Ayami asked, crossing her arms. Nakamura laughed. "She's the one who attacked me. I'm all sweaty now thanks to you,"

"Oh, forgive me, your majesty. I didn't know you were afraid of getting stinky." The girls giggled at Nakamura's remark. She even bowed to her. "You are not forgiven. Now, off with your head!" she shoved her chin up high in the air and closed her eyes as she walked past her blonde friend, her hands on her hips, but burst out laughing almost two steps after. What was that feeling? She felt so happy to be with her classmates. It didn't even feel like she was faking it. She was sure now, the E-Class brought her joy and she couldn't deny it. After so long, she finally felt happy again. 

 _'But that wasn't the plan. You weren't supposed to feel that way.'_ Her eyes narrowed and she took a big breath.

"Wow, you'd actually make a great queen, Ayami." Yada clasped her hands together in excitement. "Nah, I'd prefer to be a princess. I wouldn't have the whole country on my shoulders then."

"Haha, you're right, that really suits you better." Fuwa pointed out.

"Yeah, seems like Karma really knows how to give proper nicknames huh?"

 _"What?"_  Ayami hissed, already hating where this conversation was going. She hated it when someone even mentioned the name of the manipulative sociopath.

"Doesn't he call you princess, like all the time?"

"Well, he's just weird. Who in the 21st century still calls girls like that?"

"Well ya know, a lot of men do actually. Maybe he has a thing for you or something." Ayami laughed at Fuwa's comment."Pfft. Him? No way. I mean he's okay, but you're probably overthinking it. He doesn't seem like the type to date one of his classmates."

"You might be right. Maybe he'd go for an upperclassman or something."

"Like anyone even go out with him. He gives out too much bad boy vibes." Kataoka stated.

"True, he seems like he'd kill you for cheating or something." 

"More like he'd kill the other guy and have her for himself. Like a yandere, waahhh!!" Fuwa made a creepy face and clawed her fingers towards the girls like a zombie. Ayami clutched the strap of her bag tightly as she remembered the event from the other night. The way she almost passed out from fear. Only to find out it was a joke. Would it still be a joke if she got a panic attack? Something moved inside her gut, telling her he wasn't that bad. _It was just a joke._ "I don't think he'd go that far though," she admitted, her eyes focused on her black shoes that were covered in dirt.

_'I need to clean them after I get back home.'_

* * *

"Consider this a deceptively simple cube." A male voice said. He had a Rubik's cube in his hands, turning the edges randomly. He stood by the window of the office, watching how the students left the building. Then, he turned and sat on a chair. Irina glanced over to Karasuma's direction, confusion written all over her face.

_'Who was he again?'_

"If I wish to align the colors, quickly and intuitively, what might be the best way to go about it? Any ideas?"

"BYEE! GOOD LUCK KILLING ME TOMORROW!" 

"The answer; bribe them apart and reassemble. It's as easy as that." The strange male broke the cube apart right when Koro-sensei entered the faculty launch. 

"Huh?"

"Why Koro-sensei, it's an honor."

"Apparently this gentleman is supposed to be the principal here," Irina explained, eyeing the man that was sat in her seat.

"Believe me, he is. Which also makes him our boss," Karasuma added. Koro-sensei shrieked at that. He started massaging the man's shoulders and thanking him for coming all this way.

"Forgive me for not visiting sooner. I meant to pay my respects before now, but one gets sidetracked," he stood up from his chair and continued. "Mr. Karasuma and the ministry of defense have painted quite the vivid picture of you... Yes, vivid indeed. Though I don't pretend to understand the situation in every particular; nor do I feel especially qualified to comment. However, I will say this if I may be so bold; you seem to be torn between embracing the role of savior or villain."

There was a moment of silence.

"But no matter. Such things aren't for men like myself to resolve. I'm hardly in the position to save the world, that job I need to leave to hands more capable. So your assassins may deal with you as they will." 

He walked over to Karasuma and put a hand on his shoulder. "I've been given plenty to turn a blind eye anyway."

"Thank you for your cooperation."

And then, unnecessarily, Irina spoke up in a very... flirtatious manner. "That's a very reasonable attitude, principal. I find that quite... attractive in a man." He didn't budge at all. In fact, he didn't even spare her a good look in the eye.

"You flatter me, madam. That said, though I'm happy to give you space for you to do what's necessary, I must think of the future, should the Earth survive. In other words, what becomes of my school if Koro-sensei is assassinated. Not to put too fine a point on it, but E-Class must continue to serve its function in the grand scheme of things." The man sat down on the windowsill and crossed his legs over.

"Interesting. So rock bottom grades and students with zero prospects serve a function, do they?"

"Oh, yes. Are you familiar with the so-called worker ant theory? It tells us that in any group 20% will work hard, 20% will be inactive and the remaining 60% will fall someone in between. Now, imagine a group without a little ground. Where hard workers comprise 95% of populations and layabouts only 5. If the lazy worker ants are stigmatized, the ratio is perfectly freezable. Those who under normal circumstances fall into the average category, better themselves to avoid being associated with the outcasted class."

"Very logical...And of course, unless the 5% is kept down, the incentive for the other 95 disappears."

"Today, I received an alarming complaint form the D-Class teacher. It seemed a student of yours, glared threateningly at two upperclassmen. Such, that the two feared for their lives. I have no doubt the confidence to do so stands from their attempts to assassinate you. The issue here is that an E-Class student dared to defy his better. Obviously, I cannot let such insolence stand. As his teachers, you are expected to remind the student in question of his place." 

His speech finally finished and he left the office, only to see Nagisa standing in front of it. Nagisa froze in place, while the principal only gave him a warm smile and wished him luck on midterms. "I can't wait to see your results. Best of luck to you."

* * *

The next morning was... interesting. Koro-sensei seemed very hyped up, well more than usual; and made twice the number of doubles he made yesterday without leaving any for R&R. He was so hyped up, his doubles became a little sloppy and it became kinda annoying since he was pretty loud as well.

"Uh, hey Koro-sensei? No offense, but isn't this gonna wear you out?" Kayano asked him after two hours.

"Wear me out? PSHAW! NO WAY!"

Lunchtime finally rolled around. Everyone packed up their books and turned to the front to see Koro-sensei all flustered and sweaty, cooling himself down with an old-fashioned fan. His breathing was so irregular that made his whole body shake. The class on the other hand; was dumbfounded.

"Look at the poor guy. He's totally down for the count."

Nakamura took out her knife with a malicious grin on her face, that could compare to Koro's. "I say we try our luck."

"Not that I don't appreciate it, but why is he teaching us so hard anyways?"

The sweaty octopus laughed. "To get those test scores up, why else?" His whole head suddenly turned bright pink. "If I do that, I'll never have to worry about you trying to kill me again! IT'LL BE SHEER BLISS! IHIHII!" by now, he was obviously enjoying himself in some kind of fantasy world.

"I think you overworked yourself. You're becoming delusional." Ayami declared, poking him in the head with her sharp pencil for no apparent reason.

"Eh, I mean the whole helping to study thing is nice and all,"

"But the reward money we get for assassinating you is nothing to sneeze at." Yada finished Okajima's sentence. "Let's face it; who needs to ace some midterm when you've got that kind of cash tucked away in your bank account," Nakamura stated, her arms behind her head and not a single worry on her face.

The octopus was shocked. "MONEY ISN'T EVERYTHING PEOPLE!" 

"Aww, come on; you gotta cut us some slack here; we're the End Class." Okajima tried to explain."Yeah, assassination we can strive for; but academics? Seriously, why bother?"

The octopus hung his head, clearly disappointed. And Ayami had no idea how nobody else saw it, but no teacher wanted their student to say that. Having a parent who was a teacher helped to understand his point of view. He didn't want his lessons to be in vain. He wanted to be someone important in their lives, someone who they'd look up to.

"I see. So that's how it is then."

"How what is, sir?"

"Do you know what I think? I don't think you appreciate what it means to be an assassin." his face went dark and became kinda creepy along with his voice, that sent shivers down everyone's spines. He was clearly pissed off. 

"EVERYONE. SCHOOLYARD. NOW."

And that was exactly what they did. Not that they were scared of him, but Koro-sensei became a fatherly figure that you just had to listen to if you wanted to learn from your mistakes. And besides, no one wanted to deal with black-faced angry octopus.

But Ayami didn't want to listen to even more nagging. It seemed she got a cold from somewhere and was starting to get chills. She took out her jacket and put it on, crossing her arms in front of her chest to get warm. Then, out of the blue; she sneezed. _'Try not to catch a cold.'_ She mentally facepalmed. _'First period and now this? What else can possibly go wrong?'_

"You're cold? In this weather?" a voice called out behind her. She turned her head to see Karma, leaning on the school building. "Umm yeah, I think I caught a cold or something."

"Right before the midterms, that doesn't look too good."

"I'm not worried about the midterms." She told the redhead.

"Considering that you study so much, I wouldn't be either."

"Well, you seem to do the exact opposite. Why refuse help, when it's free?"

"Who said I'm refusing it? I listen to the octopus, I just don't feel like practicing at school."

"Seriously?"

"...You seem surprised." Ayami shrugged her shoulders and leaned against the wall next to him, her eyes focusing on Koro-sensei, who was standing in the middle of the track field, his back turned to the students.

"What's his deal? Making us stand out here like a bunch of goobers?"

"I don't know. Maybe something we said put him in a mood."

"Alright, children. Love or hate the E-Class system; as the remedial process, it can work. Imagine placing within the top 50 of 186 students on midterms. Make that a reality and securing a former teacher's permission is all an E-Class student needs to return to the class from which they were rejected. But given the conditions we're forced to work under, the personal setbacks that landed each of you here are difficult to fix. That's why most E-Class students are convinced that returning to the main campus is no more than a dream." 

"Don't tell me to hurry up! I'm not a child!" Of course, that voice belonged to one and only, Irina-sensei. She was still barking at everyone after so long, but she was slowly calming herself down and turned her volume to a relatively normal level.

"Sorry, Koro-sensei asked me to bring you." Kataoka apologized and ran to the rest of her classmates.

"Miss Jelavić." The octopus turned to the blonde. "I'd like your opinion as a professional assassin."

"Alright, what do you wanna know?"

"Now let's say you've been given an assignment. Do you have only one plan, going into it?"

"Of course not. If my profession has taught me anything, is that plan A almost never works. There are just too many variables. A good assassin has back up plans for any contingencies." 

"And Mr. Karasuma, what about you? When teaching knife combat strategies, do you believe the first strike is the only move of any importance?"

"The first move is important, but so is the following. Never assume the first strike will hit. Because when your opponent is trained, you have to be ready to deliver the next strike with at least as much precision and skill as the first. Or better yet, carry a second blade."

"Ehh... If you have a point, sir I think we're missing it." Maehara interrupted.

He suddenly started spinning in place. "LISTEN TO YOUR TEACHERS, BOYS, AND GIRLS! BACKUP PLANS ARE THE BASES OF CONFIDENCE! AND A CONFIDENT ASSASSIN IS A SUCCESSFUL ONE! THE SAME GOES FOR LIFE IN GENERAL! YOU STRIVE FOR ASSASSINATION BUT NOT ACADEMICS? YOU HEARD THE OLD SAYING, RIGHT? DON'T PUT ALL OF YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET! WELL, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE DOING HERE!"

His speed shortly reached at least a Mach and a tornado showed up in his place. Ayami crouched down and covered her ears. She was already showing signs of some kind of cold, she didn't need a tornado blasting through her skull right before midterms.

"A tornado? Is he serious?"

"SUPPOSE I LEFT THE CLASSROOM FOR GOOD. SUPPOSE SOME OTHER WOULD-BE ASSASSIN OUT THERE MANAGED TO DO ME IN. WHAT WOULD YOU BE LEFT WITH? WHAT WOULD YOU STRIVE FOR THEN? OR ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH BEING OUTCASTS?! A WORD OF ADVICE FROM YOUR KORO-SENSEI; THOSE WHO CAN'T WIELD A SECOND BLADE, AREN'T QUALIFIED TO BE ASSASSINS!"

The wind stopped and the sky cleared out. Koro-sensei was standing in the middle of a newly painted track, but his eyes were still shining red. "There. Our schoolyard needed good leveling. Not to mention a few weeds cleared." Everyone was surprised. The schoolyard was looking way better than before. He actually cleared all the weeds, repainted the track and mowed the grass in mere seconds. Yeah, well everyone really needed a reminder that he's not just a teacher. 

"I am a superior lifeform capable of destroying the Earth. As you can see, flattening out this little corner of it was a piece of cake. Cast your nets wide. Show me your back up plan. That crucial second blade. Otherwise, I'll be forced to conclude no would-be assassin here is worthy of me. And I won't have just a mind to leave, I'll flatten this entire campus as I go."

_'Second blade?'_

"A second blade? So, how long have we got?" Nagisa asked, his eyes wide with confusion.

"Not very. Until the end of tomorrow. The midterms are upon us, class. I want all of you to place within the top 50!" 

"Whether you realize it or not; we've been sharpening those second blades all along. The main campus relies on dull, old learning methods. I, to put it mildly, do not. You have what it takes, so wield those blades with confidence. Take your midterms by the tail, smiling, your heads held high! Be proud, be bold and never forget that you are assassins. You are the E-Class!"

"You okay there?" Ayami looked up to see Karma holding out his hand for her. She didn't even realize she was still crouching down. She took his hand and let him pull her up.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine."

"You know if I were you, I'd stay home until the midterms. You probably don't wanna get a low score just because you got sick."

"I guess you're right."

* * *

The day of the Midterms finally came up. Ayami took a good rest at home for a few days and was feeling way better than before, so she had a good feeling about the test. She had to get a good score, remembering the bet she made with those jerks. A feeling of anxiety filled her insides. What if she wasn't prepared enough? The last time... she couldn't focus at all? Was she really going to win? And if she doesn't... What were they going to make her do? 

 "You sure you’re feeling better?" Isogai asked, "You look pale." Kurahashi added.

"I’m fine Kurahashi, Isogai. Just a little anxious."

"Is this about the bet you made with those D-Class jerks?"

"Yeah, but I'll handle it. Don't worry. Are you ready for English?"

"I think so. I studied really hard," the cute ginger admitted before giving herself some small talk. "Don’t worry, you’ll do fine. Just remember to not focus on only the words you don’t know. Look at the whole sentence and think of the meaning."

"Sure! That’s what Koro-sensei told me as well!"

They walked up to the billboard to look up where their exams were held. Isogai took a picture of the placement list and sent it to the E-Class group chat. "So where are your classrooms?" Ayami asked the two.

"3-C. Yours?" Isogai answered for both of them.

Ayami bit back a groan. "3-A."

Kurahashi froze. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"Look who it is!" A rather happy voice called out loudly. The trio turned around, seeing one and only Ren Sakakibara. "My little sunshine! I've missed you." His arm snaked its way around Ayami's shoulders and pulled her into a warm hug, kissing her temple softly. Isogai narrowed his eyes at him. _Did he just kiss her?_  "How have you been? Ready to come back to the A-Class?"

Ayami rolled her eyes, pushing him away. "I've been perfectly fine, Ren. And I'm not planning to come back. Didn't Gakus-I mean Asano tell you?" The boy shoved his hands in his pockets, his expression saddening a little. "He might have mentioned something. Look, Ayami I'm sorry about-"

"It's fine, Ren. That's not why I'm staying." _It wasn't a complete lie._ She hurried to explain herself, giving him a look to stop. He immediately got it.

_'So she hadn't told them.'_

"Okay..." there was an awkward silence. Then Ren diverted his attention to Isogai and Kurahashi, "You're Isogai Yuuma, aren't you? The representative of your class?"

Isogai tensed. "Y-Yeah. Is something wrong?"

Ren chuckled. "Ah, no. Everything's fine. Could you pick up some documents after the midterms in the Student Council Room? It'll only take a minute."

"Okay, sure."

"I think we should go, Ayami. We need to get ready. Good luck!" Kurahashi spoke, giving the brunette an apologetic smile and waved her as she and the class president turned the other way. "Bye. Good luck, I guess." She waved back lightly at her cute classmate and then turned around, meeting Ren's eyes.

"You've changed," he smiled.

She rolled her eyes."That's what everyone's saying these days."

"I like it. You look...good." Ayami shot him a look as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, taking her to the classroom, but didn't say anything about it. He used to hug her like that, so it wasn't wrong for him to hug her now. It just felt...different.

 "Thanks."

The exam began shortly and Koro-sensei’s tips were pretty useful to everyone. Even Terasaka.

 _‘English tests were always relatively easy.’_  Nagisa thought, reviewing his answers. He sweat-dropped at the word conegius (meant to be contagious) ‘ _But my spelling could use a little work. How do you spell that again?’_

 _"_ Hey, Sakura-chan!"

_'Can people stop calling me that?'_

Ayami didn’t budge. She was staring at her phone, scrolling through the E-Class group chat. Apparently, most of them had a relatively good feeling about the exams. Well most of them.

Nagisa: _So English, Japanese, Chemistry and Social Studies are over. Are you ready for Maths?_

Kayano: _NO!! (◯Δ◯∥)_

Yada: _I wish. My Math skills suck._

Sugino:  _Should we meet up to revise during the break?_

_Isogai: That'd be nice. We have half an hour. Where should we meet?_

_'Better stay here and stay safe. I can review on my own.'_

A hand suddenly crashed on the table. Ayami turned off her phone and looked up to see Daisuke Shijima, the main shooter of the Basketball team. _He was known to have quite a temper._ "Don't ignore me!"

' _Don't come close, your breath stinks.'_

"What do you want, Daisuke-san?"

"I saw you playing at the sports tournament last year and I fell hard for you. You're my ideal girl, so...I want you to go out with me." 

'W _hat an idiot.'_

"Forget it."

"What!? YOU CAN'T REJECT ME LIKE THAT!"

"I don't have time for this. Go away. I need to review my notes." She reached for her math notes and organized them on the desk.

"Then tell me what should I do."

"Okay then. You can take me out on a date if you score higher than me." A smile crept up her lips. She liked mocking people like that. It made her feel superior. She was sure she'd get the same reaction as always; trembling and stuttering, but instead, he smiled, his eyes burning with passion. 

"Fine! Just wait and see!" he gave her a two-finger salute and a wink and rushed out of the classroom where he met his friend. ' _Is he for real? He's about to drop down to class B.'_  Ayami watched how he told him probably about what just happened and how the other guy smacked the back of his head. She laughed. At least someone had some sense in them.

Ayami sighed and went back to reviewing her notes until another person interrupted her. "Ayami."

"Are you serious?! Can't I study in peace!?" she snapped, annoyed by everyone and everything.

"Oh. Yui."

"Sorry. I don't get to see you quite often." Ayami raised her eyebrow, still deciding if she should ignore the girl or lash out at her. "It's fine with me. I don't miss you one bit."

"I'm sorry."

"What?"

"For spreading that rumor. I'm really sorry. I wanted to help you since Hana-chan went through something similar. I didn't want her to spread it around." Oh, so she wanted to _help her_ by telling the whole school she was making herself puke? It was only a few times! She wasn't bulimic anymore!

"Get away from me. I'm busy." she waved her off, not even sparing her another glance.

"Ayami I-"

"She said she was busy. I'm sure you can reschedule that conversation for some other time, Kurosawa-san. I'm sure you'd like to review some more before the next exam, am I correct?"

The blonde looked over to the boy's direction and left soon after. Gakushuu Asano. The principal's son, always securing his ego with the first spot on every midterm or final. He saved Ayami from talking about _it_ once again. She looked at him for a moment before averting her eye and went back to studying. "Thanks, Gakushuu."

"Oh, so you're back to calling me by my first name? I thought you didn't want to be friends anymore."

"Look. I'm sorry, I just need some time-"

"I get it." he interrupted her, his face unreadable as almost always. "It's hard. I know. Take your time." she looked the strawberry blonde in the eyes. She was glad he didn't push into her anymore. She lowered her head again. "Thanks. It means a lot."

The D-Class teacher continuously tapped his desk with his finger, a frown on his face. He hated the fact that he was the one assigned with more than fifteen E-Class students. He hated the fact that he had to remake this Maths exam 3 times until the principal was satisfied with the intensity level, And he hated the way the E-Class kids wore their smiles as if they knew all the answers. His frown suddenly disappeared, when most of the kids reached the last page with question 10 and 11. Now it was his time to laugh. There was no way they'd get it right. It was high school level. No kid in Junior High ranked below class C should get it right. They should be lucky if they passed this exam at all.

A day passed and the exam results were out. The tense atmosphere in the E-Class was more than enough to explain the scores. Koro-sensei passed out all the test papers and then faced the blackboard, his head slightly down in shame. He felt guilty.

"I take full responsibility," he said quietly. "Clearly, I underestimated the school's dedication to the status quo. Forgive me if I can't bear to face you."

A knife was suddenly thrown at the back of his head, making him jump to the side to avoid it. "Eh?"

"Have it your way. Keep your back turned if you want, just makes it easier for us to sneak up on you," Karma laughed as he made his way to Ayami's desk. She looked up at him with a confused face as he ripped her papers from her and turned to Koro. "Hey, what are you doi-"

"I am in no mood Karma! This whole situation has me very-" he got cut off as Karma threw the papers on his desk. "Huh?"

"So they added a few questions to the stupid test. Big deal."

"Seriously?"

"Hold the phone! 100 in Maths?! Both of you?!" 

"Ayami you got 2nd place? That's amazing."

_'Not really. I lost points for being such a sloppy reader.'_

"You really showed those bastards how it's done!" Nakamura gave her a friendly slap on the back. "Way to go, Ayami!"

"Your method worked like a charm, teach. You gave us everything you had and at the moment of truth, it mattered. So what if the Midterms decided to cover new territory. I was ready. And it seems like Ayami was too. Don't worry though. I'm not going anywhere. I don't know about the heir of royalty over there, but this is where I belong. Normal classes have nothing on assassination. So, where are you gonna go, huh? Where do you belong? You plan on using the fact that we didn't all make the top 50 as an excuse to tuck your tail and run? 'Cause you're not fooling me! I think that you're just scared that one of us is actually gonna kill you,"

Smiles appeared on everyone's faces as they saw a big, red tickmark on Koro-sensei's head.

"You could've just told us. Not like we blame you for being afraid," Maehara mocked.

"Next time, consider being more straightforward with how you feel."

"Even if how you feel is 'Oh no! I wanna run away,' it's okay, we understand." his face suddenly became red and filled with tick marks, until he just exploded and did his crazy seaweed dance again, only this time he did it from being annoyed by 27 teenage brats.

"ARGHHRGAHRHGAARGHAHH!!!!NO ONE IS RUNNING AWAAAYY!"

"Mhm, okay. So what's the deal?" Ayami asked him.

"The deal is that we get our revenge on this school during finals!"

He got annoyed again when everyone erupted into loud laughs. "CHILDREN!! THIS IS NO LAUGHING MATTER! WE NEED TO WORK HARDER! WE NEED TO SHOW THEM THAT NOBODY PUTS E-CLASS INTO A CORNER!"

"NOBODY PUTS E-CLASS INTO A CORNER!"


	7. Kyoto pt.1

Ayami gulped as she entered the nurse's office with her female classmates and Professor Bitch. It was the medical checkup day, a.k.a. the day where everyone had to show their bodies to the nurse. At least they could keep their underwear. But that did not make things any better.

She eyed the girls who continued whispering and giggling, take off their clothes. "What are you doing!?" she asked, covering her eyes. They looked at her, confusion written all over their faces. Kataoka laughed softly. "What do you expect us to do? We're here for a medical check-up. It's not a big deal."

"Of course it is! I don't want to show my body to everyone here. Just take your clothes off when your alone with Mrs. Hoshinomiya!" she exclaimed, turning around. The girls laughed at her. _They laughed at her._ "Are you...laughing at me?" She gritted her teeth in disbelief. How dared they?  

"I think you're way too self-conscious. It's normal for girls to change together. I noticed you don't change with us at school either. We're not gonna bite you, you know." Yada assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Phfft. I am not changing with you. In fact, I'll just go first so I can get this over with." 

"What's with her today?" Kayano asked, watching her enter Mrs. Hoshinomiya's office.

"Probably Post Menstrual Mood Swings," Kataoka answered boldly. 

Mrs. Hoshinomiya looked up from her notebook. "Ah, hi! You're Sakura-san, right? How are you today?"

"I'm okay, thanks."

"Great, let's begin then. " the woman in her mid-thirties pointed at a scale. "Oh and clothes off." Ayami gulped.

The whole check-up lasted about 5 minutes for each person, so when Ayami was done, she had to wait outside in the waiting room with the rest of her classmates. She rested her hands on her knees, thinking about what the doctor told her. _Ninety...Eight....pounds._ "And you know what he told me? That my eyesight has gotten worse. I might need to get glasses! Can you imagine me with glasses?"

"No way dude! You should totally go for the lenses." 

"That's what I said!"

Boys ended faster than girls, even though there were 14 of them and 13 of the girls. Apparently, the thing about girls being slowpokes really was true. Her eyes darkened as she drifted off in her own world. She didn't know what to think. 

"Is Sakura Ayami done with her check-up?" A voice suddenly asked. "Uh, yeah. She's over there." Isogai answered. 

"Sakura-saan!!" he sang. Ayami shot her head up, her face blank as Mr. Kishitani danced his way to her, waving the paper in front of her face. "Your blood test results came back!" He sounded... _happy._

"Ahh...great." was all the squealing really necessary? She stood up and took a look at the paper. It seemed normal...Then why did she faint? Was it because of a few kicks? Was she really this weak? "Everything seems normal. But as you know; more fiber and vitamins. I can give you some supplements if you'd like. We can't have you passing out again, right?!"

 _"SHE PASSED OUT!?"_ Everyone in the waiting room asked.

"I told you it was _just_ anemia. Why are you making such a big deal out of it? Now everyone's going to treat me like a baby."

"But I thought you told them... They are your classmates, no?"

"Tch. Things like this are none of their concerns...But thank you for troubling yourself with this nonsense."

"Ah! It was no problem at all! I hope I don't see you in my office again!" 

"Well, that's just _rude."_ one of her classmates commented.

He winked at the girl and was about to dance his way back into his office, but stopped as he took notice of Mr.Karasuma getting some coffee from the coffee machine. He waved at the man. "Mr. Karasumaaa!! I have good news!!"

"So," Nakamura started, an angry look in her eyes. "When were you going to tell us?!"

"I wasn't going to." Ayami neatly folded the paper and put it in her bag, and zipped it back. "You weren't going to tell us? What the hell Ayami! We're your friends!" She pushed the strand of her hair behind her ear and looked at Yada, who seemed to be just as pissed as the blonde sitting next to her.

"My blood sugar just dropped. It's not that big of a deal. You heard Mr. Kishitani confirm that everything's fine."

"Well it doesn't look that way if you passed out," Maehara added. "You too? People, things like this are normal for individuals with anemia. I don't understand why you're being so dramatic."

"Well, first of all, you should be grateful to have people who care about you, don't you think so?" Karma suddenly stepped in front of her. "It's not like I'm dying, you know? Are you all going to make such a scene every time someone coughs? Please, you're all so sensitive. Oh and don't even think of telling the octopus. I don't want his snot all over my uniform again."

* * *

"Hey, Nagisa. You figured out who else is in your group?" Kataoka asked the blue-haired boy.

"My what?"

"It's mine and Isogai's job to keep track of who's with who, so let one of us know."

"You look confused. She's talking about next week's trip." Kayano explained.

"HOLD IT! WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND SCHEDULES A SCHOOL TRIP THIS EARLY IN THE YEAR?! UNBELIEVABLE!!!" Koro-sensei screamed dramatically, dressed as a geisha.

_"~I cannot say that I approve~"_

"Then why are you dressed like that?!" Maehara barked.

"Geisha, really?"

"Guilty as charged. Yes, alright, I'll admit it. I'm as excited about this excursion as you!"

"Heheeh..."

"First midterms, now a class trip." Ayami sighed. "There's no time for rest, huh?"

"Yeah, we have a pretty full calendar. I mean, for assassins at least."  Nagisa pointed out.

It was time for Karasuma's P.E. class. He ordered the students to sit down and listen for a few minutes. "Everyone's aware next week is our big overnight field trip to Kyoto, yeah? Well not to put a damper on the fun, but you're still on the clock."

"So are we supposed to try to kill him there?" Okano asked.

"That is the idea. Kyoto is a very large city. A lot more cosmopolitan than this area. For your safety, you'll be traveling in designated groups and Koro-sensei will divide his time between you. There are a lot of good sniper nests in the city. We planned out to have sharpshooters just about everywhere. Lead your target into the crossed area and the reward money will be divided between you and the lucky marksman. So stick to the sniper-friendly route, and keep those eyes peeled."

 _"Yes, sir."_ everyone said in unison with a slight tone of disappointment.

The bell rang once again. The students went to the changing rooms to get changed and then headed for the classroom. Like usual, Ayami grabbed her uniform and quietly went to the toilet, hoping no one would notice. She locked herself in the stall and began changing. She froze once she heard the door open and close again. Someone came in. 

"How come you never change with the rest of the girls?" Ayami's eyes widened.

"Are you shy or is there another reason? Don't tell me you've got something to hide."       

It was Kayano. But it definitely didn't sound like her usual self. Her voice was unusually low and a little intimidating. Nowhere near her usual cheerful one. Ayami quickly pulled up her skirt and stuffed her P.E. clothes in her sports bag. Then she unlocked the stall and calmly came out, fixing her tie and hair, her usual cold expression on her face.

"What's with that voice?" she asked, glancing down at the green-haired girl while washing her hands. She only laughed in response. Her usual self was back.

"Did I scare you? Sorry haha, I'm really interested in acting and I thought it'd be cool to try it out."

"Oh, really?" Ayami smirked. "You're pretty good. You almost had me there."

"Thanks! So, I was thinking...You've been to Kyoto before right?" She put her hands behind her back, smiling at her classmate.

"Yeah, my parents and I used to go to Gion Matsuri Festival every summer. Why?"

"You wanna be in my group? I was hoping to steal you from Nakamura for a day. You could be our tour guide. Would you mind?"

"Sure, I'd be happy to. I don't know Kyoto that well though."

"Great! Come to class and we'll ask Nagisa and Sugino to be with us too," she waved to the brunette and then ran out of the bathroom. Ayami let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. Was that really acting? She soon followed her classmate to her class and hung her gym bag in the back.

"So we're splitting up into groups, huh?" Nagisa asked, staring at the paper form, waiting to be filled out with the names of his people in his group. So far it was just him, Kayano, Sugino and Ayami. He was supposed to get three more.

"Hey Karma, do you wanna be with us?"

"Count me in."

"Ehh... you're gonna behave yourself, right? No funny business, no getting into fights an all that stuff..."

"Yeah, sure. Don't worry dude. When I stir up trouble out of town, let's just say I KNOW HOW TO KEEP WITNESSES FROM REPORTING IT."He said with a Cheshire grin, holding up a picture of him, injured delinquent and a scared girl; both holding up their IDs. 

"You threatened a girl? Really Akabane?"Ayami could swear she saw devil horns on his head and a tail wiggling behind him. Karma was definitely one of the most interesting characters in this classroom. Besides Koro-sensei of course. She knew that very well. He was strong, smart, manipulative, had a very interesting perspective of this whole situation and was probably the most successful in assassination so far. He was probably the only one with real fighting experience and it showed. She would've never thought that she'd be envious of that someday. Heck, he even stripped Koro of two of his tentacles in one day! 

"She was a witness. And I couldn't afford trouble."

_'Envious? No way. I shouldn't care about being good at killing. I don't care that he's' good at fighting and everything else.'_

The truth was brutally honest; Ayami might have been good at most of the things, but assassination and fighting were definitely not one of those things. She knew that they were still practicing and had a lot of time left before the end of the year; however, she couldn't help but feel anxious. Of course, she wasn't the only one who felt that way. They talked about it as a class; a lot of them were very insecure about this mission. Though to her, it felt as if she was the one who was really falling behind with the moves. _'I guess it's time to start taking things seriously.'_

 _"OH GREAT! AND NOW HE'S A PART OF OUR GROUP! WAY TO GO!_ " Sugino shrieked. Nagisa gave him an apologetic smile. "Eh, what can I say... we've been friends for a while."

"So who else? There's me, you, Sugino, _princess_ and _the grasshopper_ and should be two more."

"Yep! Got it covered! Okuda's in!"

"WAIT DID YOU JUST CALL ME A GRASSHOPPER!?" He completely ignored the girl's tantrum and continued with a chilled tone. "Still one shy. You think our number seven should be a girl too?"

"Heheeh! No sweat! I took the liberty of enlisting someone very special! Ladies and gentlemen, class idol Kanzaki!"

"Ohh! I'm totally for it!" 

"Thank you for letting me join, I'm flattered." Kanzaki was the class idol. Everyone adored the girl. She was sweet, nice and very reliable. It was said that Sugino had a thing for her. That's obviously why he chose her to be in their group.

"Cool! So where in Kyoto do we wanna go?" Kayano asked.

"Ah! You're all so cute. Excited to walk the city streets, boys and girls? AHH, so young and naive!" Irina's behavior hasn't changed from day one. She dropped the innocent act, sure; but she was still being a bitch. Looking down on them like there was no tomorrow and always making them blush when she translated her lessons to them. She did grow a little closer to them though. The whole class was so sarcastic that they weren't even mad at her anymore. Most of them were being reminded of a chihuahua with an anger issue or maybe rabies at worst.

"Yeah, well you can just stay here professor Bitch." Her face went blank.

"You can water the plants while we're gone!" They completely ignored her. 

"Where should we go on day two?" She was utterly confused by this point.

"Remember, we have to think about the assassination."  
"But there's so much cool stuff on this route." And this is when she snapped...

"OHH NO! IF YOU BASTARDS THINK YOU'RE GONNA  LEAVE ME OUT OF THIS TRIP THINK AGAIN!!" 

"WHAT!!?? YOU KNOW, YOU'RE KINDA GIVING US MIXED SIGNALS HERE!" Maehara snapped back.

"OH I'LL SHOW YOU MIXED SIGNALS!" 

Koro-sensei then entered the classroom, carrying a stack of thick red books of some sort. "ONE FOR EACH OF YOU!" He announced happily.

"What are those, sir?"

"They're field trip guidebooks!" He gave used his Mach 20 and shoved a huge book into everyone's hands.

"Just how much guidance do we need on a field trip!?" Ayami shouted angrily, almost collapsing under the sudden weight.

"What the hell!"

"They're more like dictionaries!"  
"Justalittlesomethingithrewtogetherlastnight incudingalltheillustrationsofallthemayortouristattractinonsthetop100localsouvenirsandwheretofindthemthe travelingtechiquesfrombasicsrtoadvance; OH AND BEST OF ALL, THE FIRST EDITION COMES WITH A MODEL OF KINKAKUJI!!" he held up a tiny model of the temple, pink circles appearing under his squinted eyes, indicating just how excited he was.

"YOU ARE WAY TOO EXCITED FOR THIS TRIP!!"

* * *

_"Oh, darling..." A sickly sweet voice called. "You should stop here." There stood a tall, blonde woman in her early thirties, leaning against the door frame. She crossed her arms over her chest and smiled at her daughter, who didn't even flinch. Surrounded by two piles of different kinds of books on each side of her desk, Ayami studied like that for the past few days. It was no suprise to anyone, really. Her first junior high midterms were coming up and she just had to take one of the top spots._

_"No! I'm not tired yet. I need to finish this chapter by 11. I have to focus, mom."_

_"Can't it wait till tomorrow?"_

_"Absolutely not."_

_Her mother playfully rolled her eyes. "God bless the rest of the kids."_

_"So what's up? You never study at night." Ayami shrugged and flipped the page. "It's nothing." The woman smiled. She walked over to her desk and sat on the spare chair, putting a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Can I ask you something?"  
"Sure."_

_"What are you most afraid of?" the brunette put her pen down and looked at her mother._

_"Spiders," she answered as goosebumps visibly ran up her exposed arms._

_"Is this because of that time you walked on dad and me?" the brunette nodded._

_"You know it was just a movie, right?"_

_"It wasn't. They were in my room a few weeks ago."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"A man gave me peonies. And there were spiders on them. They wanted to bite me." Ayami could feel her mother's hand tremble as she moved it back into her lap and then smiled. "Sounds like a bad dream, sweetie. Let's make a deal; when it's time for bed, you go to bed. No more leaving your room at night, okay?"_

_'But it wasn't a dream.'_

_"Okay."_

_"When you go to sleep, try thinking about something else. Forget those crazy spiders. I'll make sure they won't bother you anymore."_

Ayami awoke with a gasp and tears in her eyes. She slowly sat up and wiped the tears away. _'What the... What was that all about?'_ It's been quite some time since she had woken up from her sleep because of a bad dream... And they always seemed to be either about her mother or...spiders. She checked the alarm clock on her nightstand. _'04.33.'_

"Are you fucking kidding me? It's four in the morning?" Furiously pulling the fresh covers off of her, Ayami got up and turned on the lights. She drank her glass of water, grabbed her phone and went downstairs. "Mio? You here kitty cat?" 

 the kitchen and filled the empty glass once again.  "Where is that cat?"

"Meow."

"Hey, girl. How was your day?" the cat only stared at her, wanting a snack. 

"Probably better than mine, huh? At least you didn't sit in a classroom for 7 hours with an octopus, right? You'll live like a queen for the next few days with when the maid comes over, huh?" she joked, but the cat only sat down, still staring at the girl. Ayami took the hint and gave her some snacks. It took her some time, but when she ate it, Ayami grabbed her and brought her on the couch with her. She covered herself with a blanket and hugged the precious fluffball.

"You know, if it wasn't for you I'd be really scared right now," Ayami whispered, massaging the cat's ears as she listened to her soft purrs.

_'This house is too big for one person.'_

* * *

It was 07.56. The students of Kunugigaoka soon gathered at the train station and formed into groups from 3-A to 3-E. 

"Wow! Man, look at those lucky jerks gettin' to ride first class."   
"And as always, we're stuck in coach. Yay for us, right guys?" Nakamura sighed, her expression showing slight disappointment, but she shook it off. Why feel sad about something as unimportant as that? They were the class that always had the most fun and that was all that mattered. _Right?_

"Where's Ayami?" Nagisa asked, confused. His phone suddenly rang and he answered. "Hey Nagisa, I'm running kinda late so you can go inside. I'll be there before the train leaves. Text me your seat numbers- thanks, bye!"

"Now now boys and girls; try not to look so sour. Rules are rules; you know how this works."  
"The student handbook states; those of us with the highest grade point average get dibs on school's funds."  
"Oh, hoo; is that the smell of poverty filling my nostrils?"

"Dudes, aren't you supposed to hold your end of the deal you made with Ayami?" Maehara asked the two boys, who looked at each other for a second. "Well, she doesn't seem to be here right now, so take this as a goodbye gift-"

_"Pardon me, boys."_

Irina came to the station, dressed like some sort of a model, showing off her huge cleavage. Her purple boots, flower lace pattern tights, short dress, and a beige coat wrapped around her perfect figure made the two D-Class students and their teacher stare at her with wide eyes and jaws dropped.

"Everyone having a glamorous day so far?"

"Um, professor Bitch? Why are you dressed like the paparazzi should care who you are?"

"Hehe, travel is no excuse not to look devastatingly fashionable."  
"You stick out like a sore thumb. Go change. You're a chaperone, not a runway model."  
"Oh come on, lighten up! What's wrong with a little style? These kids are going to the city!"  
"SHUT UP. GET CHANGED. NOW."

Ayami ran through the crowd and barely made it inside the bullet train. She checked her phone to see if Nagisa sent her their seat numbers.

"Okay, E113."

As she passed the food and drink trolley she bumped into Kayano, Okuda, and Kanzaki. "Ayami! We were worried you wouldn't make it on time!"

"Yeah, they barely let me in. I'm not usually late for school trips. So where are your seats?"

"In the next compartment. We're gonna buy some drinks and then head back. You want something?" Kanzaki asked. "Nah, I'm good thanks. See you there."

She walked past some high schoolers who made a few whistle noises and tried to talk to her. One of them blocked the door and she rolled her eyes. "Move." she simply said, staring at the fat blob with a bored gaze. "And what are you gonna do if I don't?" He smirked, his double chin appearing as he looked down on her. Ayami sighed and pulled out her phone and texted Nagisa. "I don't think you want to make a scene in public. I get that you're trying to act badass and everything, but you can't really do anything here."

_Ayami: 'Can you tell Mr.Karasuma to find me? There are some delinquents blocking my way. You know, as Karma would say.'_

"So move," she repeated, staring at the screen.

"You're friends with those girls right?" Another one leaned to her ear. She didn't flinch, though she wanted to go away as quickly as possible. His cologne wasn't exactly pleasing her nostrils. He noticed her two small silver hoop earrings on her left ear and smirked. She noticed he had one as well.

"So?" She stepped away from him.

"How come that Kanugigaoka nerds aren't in the 1st class? Aren't you one of the elite?"

"That's none of your business." her phone buzzed.

_Nagisa: 'Too late...Karma's coming.'_

_Nagisa: 'You shouldn't have mentioned delinquents.'_

_Ayami: 'Of course. -_-'_

"Ya know, you should pay attention when you're surrounded by a bunch of high schoolers. Didn't your mother teach you that?"

He wasn't going to talk about her mother like that. Not in front of her. Ayami clenched her teeth in anger and kicked him in the shins. Hard. He fell on the ground beside her just as the compartment's door opened, a certain sadistic redhead grinning at the sight in front of him. The fat blonde crouched over his friend and tried to make sure he was okay.

"Wow, princess. I had no idea you'd be able to handle this kind of situation on your own."

"Don't call me that." she hissed, stepping over the guy, clutching his loser region and groaning in pain. Karma only grinned. They were so used to this by now. He'd call her princess, she'd snap back at him, making him grin. Then he'd continue the conversation and sometimes even get a smile out of her. But not this time. Her lips were sealed in a straight line. _'Stupid bastard.'_

"Ayami. Karma. Everything okay?" Karasuma asked.

"Yeah, sorry for being late."

"No worries. Try to be on time next time."

"Yeah, sure-" Ayami moved her gaze to her English teacher, who was sobbing on her seat, dressed unexpectedly normally for her 'exotic taste.' She looked at her classmates. "What's with her?"

"HE TOOK MY PRETTY CLOTHES HOSTAGE!!! AND LEFT ME WITH THESE UGLY RAGS!"

"She's more of a child than we are."

"Maybe killing rich dudes for a living disconnects you from reality," Isogai stated, sounding slightly concerned.

"Probably. Well Professor Bitch, it was nice to know you. I hope you don't forget us if you go insane." she mocked the poor blonde.

"Get over here you little brat!" she jumped at Ayami and would probably tackle her down if Karasuma hadn't grabbed her by the collar and strapped her to the chair. "Stop making a fool out of yourself and read a book or something." 

"Okay... But pick one; Russian, German, French, or English?" She asked with puppy dog eyes. Karasuma closed his eyes and took a breath.

"Why the hell do you have that many books?"

"I COULDN'T CHOOSE OKAY?! NOW PICK AND DON'T MAKE THIS HARD FOR YOURSELF."

"German."

"Oh yay! I love German!"

Ignoring their quarrel, Ayami sat on the seat in front of them so she could see Karasuma's shiny hair. There were 7 of them in her group, and that meant one of them had to seat alone. And since everyone else was seated, she sat on the seat closest to Nagisa. Honestly, she wanted to get closer to everyone on this trip. But seating alone didn't help at all. She took out her book Phare du bout du monde and started reading... It wasn't long before Koro-sensei appeared outside of her window. "Koro-sensei. I don't want to pry, but can you explain why you're stuck to the window?" 

"Uh, I was stacking up on snacks at the terminal and lost track of time! It's alright! I'll just stay here until we reach the next stop!"

His face suddenly disappeared. "There's nothing to see here. Just some random clothes and luggage, stuck to the side of a train!"

"Worst. Camouflage. Ever." Nagisa stated.

"Uhh, who knew traveling incognito would be so exhausting? Goodness me..."

"It'd be a little easier if you didn't bring such a big backpack. It's just a little smaller than you." Okajima stated.

"No offense, but you weird people out as it is,"

"HUH?!" his fake nose suddenly fell off.

"And while we're on the subject, broadcasting that you're in disguise defeats the purpose." Nakamura sighed, throwing her arms behind her head.

"Truth, it's a lame disguise anyways. Nobody's buying it."

"Hey, Koro-sensei! Try these!" Sugaya threw him a wooden nose. "Can't have your nose going AWOL all the time, right?"

"Wow! A perfect fit!"

"Custom carved to compliment the contours of your face. You're welcome."

"Wow, that's cool Sugaya!"

"Isn't it awesome how when you travel together you see a whole different side of people?" Kayano asked, putting one of her cards on the pile.

"I don't know what we'll learn about each other on this trip but I'm ready to be surprised." Nagisa smiled

"I'm done with this game," Karma suddenly stated, throwing his cards on the desk. He stood up, stretching his arms. He was so bored with this ride. Nothing interesting happened yet. Except for seeing Ayami kick the boy's balls hard. But other than that, nothing interesting.

"Well, I'd be done too; those are pretty bad cards, man." Sugino joked as he took a look at his cards.

"You don't have luck in playing games like these, huh?" Kayano joked. "This is the third game of spades you lost."

"Meh. So what? It's not like the world will collapse because of it."

"True."

"So where were we? Okuda? I think it's your turn."

"Oh, right! Hmmm, let's see,"

 _'Why is everyone so into this stupid game? It's just spades, people.'_ Karma yawned before turning over to his other classmate, who hasn't said much through this whole ride. She's been reading her book ever since Koro-sensei came. He noticed how she tucked the loose strand of hair behind her ear. Her fingers stopped at her hoop earrings, just to check if they were still in place. 

' _Why the hell am I looking at her?'_

He put his thoughts to the back of his mind and plopped himself on the seat, facing her. She didn't flinch. Not even a 'hi', or 'what are you doing here.' She just kept reading that book. 

_'Fine. Ignore me, Sakura.'_

Karma needed attention. And a lot of it. Didn't have to be in a good way, but he liked to be noticed. He liked being praised by his classmates for his incredible academics, he liked to be scolded by Koro-sensei for being a troublemaker, he liked it all. What didn't like, was being ignored. And Ayami stood on top of the ladder in this case. She reminded him of his parents; who barely even talked to him. She'd say a few words to him every now and then, sometimes even pulled out a whole conversation and then pretended it never happened or continue being cold. He hated that, sure, but he couldn't exactly shake off the feeling of excitement. They played a game and he wanted to win. He was definitely going to win.

So, to get her attention; Karma threw his legs onto her lap. She glared at him.

_Bingo._

"Get your filthy shoes off of me."

"What are you reading?"

"None of your business." he sighed, ripping the book from her. "I'm bored, so let's not make this difficult. You may entertain me." he flipped through the pages only to find out the book wasn't in English like he thought. What was that? Italian? 

"It's in French."

_'Well, I was close.'_

"I know." Karma smiled, flipping through the pages, looking for pictures. There wasn't any.

"Great, so can you give it back?"

"Hmmm...Nope."

Ayami rolled her eyes and stood up to get the book, but Karma lifted it up above his head. "Really? Can you just give it back?"

"Nah, talk to me, Sakura. I'm bored," he yawned once again and plopped down on the seat beside her. Ayami sat down as well, looking at her hands. She then wrapped her fingers around her wrist and looked at the space between. _'Still too big. I need to lose at least 5 more pounds.'_

"I'm sleepy," she said, hoping he didn't see her measure her wrist.

"Me too."

"Nice."  she yawned.

_'How am I gonna pull this off when I'm supposed to be around people 24/7!? We're supposed to have every meal together!'_

"Forget the talk then. Let's sleep."

'Yeah, just for a few minutes.'

* * *

"Hey, guys!! Look at this!" Nakamura whisper-yelled, pointing at her best friend who was sleeping next to Karma, her head leaning on his shoulder. A strand of her hair fell over her eyes. His head was leaning against the window and his mouth was slightly open.

"Wow, she looks so harmless when she's asleep," Maehara laughed.

"How cute!" Kayano squealed.

"When did that happen!? I swear they were fighting just a minute ago!" Sugino pointed out.

"A while ago. You were too busy playing cards." Nakamura laughed, taking out her Polaroid camera to snap a shot, but Koro-sensei beat her to it, taking a whole bunch of pictures from different angles. 

Karma woke up to the sound of a camera flash. More like a million camera flashes. He was met with the octopus right in his face. "What's up, Koro-sensei?" he laughed. "Wanna play?" he only got a creepy laugh as a response.

Karma rolled his eyes, before noticing Ayami on his shoulder. He raised his eyebrows in confusion. "So that's what everybody's staring at."

"Yup and it seems like you're -- Umm, Karma, what are you doing?" Sugino sweatdropped as he watched his redheaded classmate pull out his phone and take a selfie with the sleeping girl. He even used her hair to make it look like she had a mustache.

"Blackmail material! What else? You don't get an opportunity like that every day." he said, and continued taking selfies.

"Karma! Blackmail is illegal!" Koro-sensei screeched. _"~But I'll let it slide if you send me that picture. Nufufufuu~"_ Karma returned the devilish smile, sending his teacher the picture.

"Can you two be even creepier!?" Touka scolded him, dragging him away by his gloved tentacles.

* * *

Kanugigaoka students finally arrived in Kyoto. After a few hours of exploring, classes from A to D checked in their luxurious hotels, while E-Class had to sleep in a small inn on the other side of the town.

Koro-sensei melted down on the sofa, his face deflating like a balloon.

"So bullet trains give him motion sickness?"

"You'll probably feel better if you lay in the room for a while," Okano said, trying to stab him with the knife. He dodged of course.

"Perhaps later, I need to pop back over to Tokyo for a while. Koro-sensei forgot his favorite pillow.

"HOW IS EVERYTHING YOU OWN NOT IN THAT BAG!!" Mimura screamed, referring to the huge green bag that looked like a rock.

"Any luck? It's gotta be in there somewhere!" Kayano comforted Kanzaki as she tried to find her itinerary.

"I admire you going through the trouble of putting together an itinerary Kanzaki, but if you can't locate it; don't fret. I have just the solution; these handy dandy guidebooks contain everything you could possibly need."  
  
Maehara and the rest of the class sweatdropped. "She made the itinerary so we wouldn't have to log those things around."

"I remember putting it in my handbag. Maybe I dropped it somewhere."

"Don't worry Kanzaki. We'll just take one the of the books with us. I'm sure it'll show up somewhere." Ayami said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"True! We can't let this keep up from having fun on this trip!"

"Yeah about that," Karasuma stated as he walked into the room. "I think it'd be best if you kids to get ready for bed. We have a pretty full schedule tomorrow."

"That's true! We'll visit so many cool places! I better not hear you say you're tired tomorrow!" the octopus exclaimed, apparently feeling just fine.

"Okay then let's wash up, have dinner and then get some sleep," Isogai said.

* * *

"Nice spot!" For assassination, I mean. Don't you think Nagisa?" Sugino asked, folding the map and showing it into his back pocket.

"If the snipers can see it, sure!" he replied with a smile.

"What a bizarre field trip, right?"

"Maybe, but you gotta admit, it's fun." Kayano laughed and then jumped in excitement. "AHH, whatever we do, we have to get green tea with mochi dumplings!"  
"That's a great idea! We could put poison in them!" And that's how you ruin a pretty nice atmosphere.

"That's twisted!"

"Not for us, silly! For Koro-sensei."

"Not too shabby. We could take advantage of his sweet tooth." Karma agreed.   
"That'd be a waste of a perfectly local treat!"

"Yeah, but we don't have poison. And even if we did, I doubt it would actually work."

"True. Last time he developed special powers." Kanzaki tapped her cheek.

"Not to be that guy, but I gotta tell ya; I was sorta hoping we could put the whole assassination thing on hold while we're here. We're in Kyoto people! What do any of these sights have to do with assassination!?"

"You'd be surprised actually," Ayami stated. "Kyoto is basically the heart of assassination. Ever heard of Ryoma Sakamoto?" she stopped at a rocky monument.

"Wait, _the_ Ryoma Sakamoto?"

"This is where Omiya used to be. Where Sakamoto was cut down by a group of assassins."

"That's right. And just a little further down is the Honnoji Temple."

"Oh yeah! Oda's death counts as assassination!"

"Just think, in these few city blocks a lot of pro-assassinations went down. Sure Kyoto's always been a heart of Japan, but it's also a playground for professional killers."

"I never thought about it that way. I guess you could say we're on an assassination vacation," Sugino said, putting his arms behind his head.

"Well, if we manage to kill him here; he's definitely gonna have some good company to hang with," Ayami stretched her some arms and yawned.

"You've been pretty tired since yesterday. You okay?" Kayano asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'm just not used to sleeping on the floor."

"Okay then. Where's our next stop?"

"Yasaka Shrine."

Karma sighed. "Mind if we take a break first? I could really go for some sugar loaded coffee right now."

"YAAY SUGAR!"

Soon after the coffee break, Nagisa's group headed to a dark alley, which Kanzaki put on the itinerary. She thought it would be the perfect spot for assassination. 

"It looks pretty creepy, to be honest," Ayami said as chills ran up her spine. _'Why did I leave my jacket in the room again?'_

"Yeah, but I think it fits really well with our plan."

_'Sure.'_

"The girl is right. It's also the perfect spot for kidnappers to well... kidnap."

Before they could react, the junior high students were suddenly trapped in the alley, surrounded by a whole class of high school trouble makers. They all had stupid grins on their faces, trying to act cool and badass. Ayami rolled her eyes. Her mother's words suddenly echoed in her head.

_"Stay away from dark alleys and places you don't know well."_

_'Of course, something would go wrong in a dark alley.'_

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but something tells me you gentlemen aren't tourists."  
"Don't try to be a hero, kid. Hand over your ladyfriends and-"

He never got to finish his sentence, because Karma grabbed his face and smashed shoved him on the ground, probably giving him a mild concussion.

"See that? What did I tell ya? To hell with them, without any witnesses, it's basically a free for all, so go nuts."

"Hey, watch it Karma!" Nagisa alerted the redhead. Another guy took out his pocket knife and launched at him.

"Imma cut you like a pig!" the redhead wasn't affected though. He kept his calm and used a red cloth that was on the bike nearby to take care of the delinquent. 

"Strong words for a guy kissing the sidewalk."

"Let go of me!" Kayano and Kanzaki yelled as they were grabbed by some guys. Ayami kicked two of the ones who tried to approach her in the gut and then ran to get as close to Karma as she could. Before she could reach him, she felt someone grabbing her from behind and cold metal on her neck. His hand was on her waist and the other leaning on her shoulder, pressing the knife to her skin. It wasn't enough to draw blood, but it scared the shit out of the girl. She couldn't say a word. _"~You scared?~"_ he whispered in her ear.

"Let's stop here, Fire Head."

Karma immediately froze, his eyes wide. 

"No! Watch out!" Before he could react, he was hit on the head and collapsed on the floor, taking the kicks. Nagisa and Sugino were knocked down as well.

"Bring the car around!" he yelled, putting the knife away. 

Ayami couldn't react. She was so shocked by all this that she couldn't even say anything. And even if she did, it wouldn't change a thing. Kicking and screaming weren't going to get her out of it.

_'Think Ayami. THink.'_

She heard the helpless scream of Kanzaki and Kayano, who were still trying to fight them off. She felt the bastard preparing to lift her. 

"Don't overdo it. I can walk ya know?" she snapped at him, clenching her teeth as she heard him laugh. "I like you, girlie." Wrapping his arm around her waist, he escorted to the car. Ayami could feel disgust building up in her, but she had to stay focused. She had to get out of it.

_'Okay, if I can just stay awake, I could probably count the left and right turns. It's very unlikely that they'll go far.'_

* * *

 “Let me go you bastard!"

Ayami was thrown on the floor, her hands bound by wide duct tape in front of her, which was extremely uncomfortable. She groaned in pain as her hipbone hit the hard floor and clenched her teeth together. 

_'You're going to regret this, you filthy pig.'_

She saw how they threw her unconscious classmates beside a green sofa, basically ignoring them. They probably wanted to have fun when they woke up. Men suck. That was now clearer than ever to Ayami. Perverts, gold-diggers, you could find basically whatever you wanted without ever searching properly.

"You do realize that you could get arrested for this, right? You're eighteen, aren't you?" She said as calmly as she possibly could, even though her hip hurt like hell and she was also scared as hell. It was fear, right? Yeah, she remembered the way her heart raced when she saw a spider. She felt almost the same, just a little worse.

_'It's normal to be scared, right?'_

"Please, you think I'm gonna let you report us after this? No one's gonna stop what we're gonna do to you here." the leader said, caressing her soft cheek with his thumb and forcing her head up. "And no one's ever gonna know what happened either. It'll be our little secret."

_'Just breathe and don't let them know you're scared.'_

"Go ahead then," she eyed the name tag on his jacket. "Ishizaki Ryuuki, huh? Your dad's a lawyer, isn't he? Ishizkai Daichi, right? " he suddenly grabbed her by the collar and pulled her hair down, so she was forced to look up at him. He reeked of weed, and the redness in his eyes indicated just how high he was.

' _Why are you scared of this bastard again? He obviously has no idea what he's doing.'_ a voice in her head said.

And she calmed down for some reason. This feeling rushed through her veins and made her blood boil. She completely forgot about staying focused. She forgot about the fear and her heartbeat returned to a normal, almost slow pace. Any other teenage girl would be terrified by this point, but not her. Probably not anyone in her class. If Koro-sensei had taught them anything, it would be to never let the cat think it caught the mouse until it actually kills it. He even used the example of Tom and Jerry cartoon. Ayami thought about it carefully. Any wrong moves and she could get raped at worst. He wanted to play the game of cat and mouse, so she was going to give him a game. "How the fuck do you know that?" She smiled at him, her purple eyes glowing in the dark room. There was this euphoric feeling again. He backed off a little, probably startled. She loved it.

"Wouldn't he be disappointed if he found out that his son turned out to be guilty in a kidnapping case?" It was his turn to laugh. "I don't think so, sweetheart. He works for the TMI Associates, one of the biggest law firm out there. I think he'd be able to get me out of trouble, love." he moved his face closer to her and smiled, showing his yellow tainted sharp teeth. By now, Ayami could practically feel his bad breath on her. She couldn't move her arms or legs and she could feel shivers running down her spine. She wanted to puke.

And yet, she let out a hoarse laugh. "You sound so sure of yourself."

"So what? You think you can top that?"

"Of course I can. You see, the difference between you and me, in this case, is that your father works for TMI Associates," she gritted her teeth as he tightened the hold on her hair. "while mine, well, he owns it."  
"Ever heard of Shin Sakura? Your dad's boss? That's my father, which means I can get all of you chased out of the country. Your parents included."

Thick silence hanged in the air for a few moments, followed by loud snickers and sounds of laughter that made Ayami sick to the core. Her face remained stoic though. No fear, no sadness, no anger. She felt nothing. Nothing but utter humiliation. Of course, they wouldn't believe her.

"That was a good one! I gotta say, you didn't disappoint me at all! Seems like you Kunugigaoka kids actually got some sense in you! But please, you actually thought we were gonna believe that shit?!" He let go of her hair and then punched her in the stomach. 

Shocked, Ayami let out a whimper and then collapsed on the ground as he let her go. She desperately tried to catch her breath, but soon, she could feel even more pain in her abdomen. He didn't stop.  

Blinking away the tears, she took a last glance at the dark figure, who's figure was blurred out by the lack of light in the place. There was no time to think, or do anything. She was at their mercy. And seeing how they treated women; there wasn't much room for mercy.

"Why don't you take a nice rest next to your friends, huh!? I'm sure you'll appreciate a few hours of sleep!" And so, everything went dark.

* * *

Kanzaki woke up to a strange smell and loud laughter. Her eyes fluttered open, seeing nothing but black for a few seconds. She heard her heart in her ears, beating fast and loud. _'I'm alive...That's good I guess.'_ She tried to reach for her phone, only to find out her hands were bound behind her back. She winced in pain as she felt the rough material rub tightly against her skin. 

_'What happened?'_

It didn't take long until she recalled how she and her group were cornered by high schoolers. She remembered how her, Kayano and Ayami were forced into a car. Wait, where were they?

"Kayano? Ayami?"

"Kanzaki? You there?" Kayano whispered. 

"Yea. Are you okay?" she turned around to face the green-haired girl, who gave her a small smile to assure her it was going to be okay.

"I'm fine, you?" 

"Same here." 

Kanzaki looked around, trying to find her other friend. "Where's Ayami?"

"Over there." a male voice snickered. The two girls jumped in surprise as the guy with a scar on his face stepped close. His 'buddies' followed. "Look. She's over there." His finger pointed to the right. Ayami laid a few meters away from the sofa they were leaned against. She was turned with her back turned to the girls, so they couldn't see a lot, but noticed the bruises on her bare legs. Her long hair was wet and splattered all over the damp floor, her blouse and skirt were dirty.

Kanzaki gasped. 

"What have you done to her!?" Kayano screamed in shock.

"Nothing she didn't deserve. She had an attitude problem. You know I suggest you stay quiet and obedient unless you want to end up like her. And you better don't pull out that eye glowing trick either. It's fucking annoying."

The girls looked at each other in confusion and fear. ' _What trick?'_

"I gave our buddies a call and they're in. We're gonna have ourselves a little commemorative photoshoot with you gals. Feel free to scream, no one will hear you except us."

The girls whimpered, feeling at least 30 pairs of eyes on them.

"You." Kanzaki froze. "I've seen you somewhere before. Yeaah, sure I have. Last summer in Tokyo. Gotta pic of you in our arcade!" He searched up a photo on his phone and showed it to the girls with a huge grin on his face.

"Don't deny it. My boys spotted you first, told me to be on the lookout for a party girl. We were gonna kidnap you then, but I guess you were lucky and gave us a slip. Who'd thought you were going to that school for geniuses or whatever? No judgment though, I get it. It's the pressure; the higher you are on the ladder, the more you wanna take a swan dive." he dove right to her face, his eyes red and orbs tiny, his breath reeked of weed. Kanzaki has never felt so scared before. She was frozen since she woke up and could barely speak.

"Don't you worry about a thing sweetie; Professor Ruin is gonna take all night teaching you how to dive like a pro."

The fear was suddenly gone. She suddenly felt nothing anymore. She wasn't afraid anymore but still chose to look down. As much as she wanted to resist; she couldn't afford to come home with bruises. 

The boys soon left and crowded over a table, laughing about something, while waiting for their buddies to show up.

"So that picture... Not gonna lie, it's kinda comforting to know that even you went through a phase. Never would've imagined."

"Yeah. My dad was crazy strict; always on me about doing well in school and building up my resume. It was soo... suffocating, you know? I just couldn't deal. So I ditched the uniform, glammed myself out and hang, where no one knew me. Felt like therapy. I'm so stupid. Where did I expect to end up, right? It's E-Class for me. But now I don't even know where I belong anymore."

"Sounds to me like you'd be right at home with us, babe. Grades and that pointless bullshit, don't mean jack to this crew. The only thing that matters is having a little fun, right?"

Kayano's eyes darkened. "You're a jerk."

His carnivore-like smile disappeared and was replaced by a scowl. "I see how it is!" He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up in the air. "Little miss Perfect thinks she's better than me! This is exactly what I'm talking about, you bitch!"

"Here's the deal; when we're done here, you go back to whatever fancy hotel you're in and tell whoever asks that you were just out, singing karaoke and lost track of time. Stick to that story and no one gets hurt. Once we're all back in Tokyo, we can hang out together, maybe we'll scrapbook, do something artsy with the vacation photos we're about to take."

There was a sudden bang at the door.

"Ah? Speak of the devil; my photographer buddies are here."

A man appeared at the doorway, his face bloated and two black eyes. He was harshly thrown on the floor.

"School trip guidebook page 1043. What to do when a group member has been abducted?" Nagisa read. "If there are no leads on the perpetrators, think back to any accents or linguistics abilities that might indicate whether said perpetrators are local. If not, and the perpetrators were wearing school uniforms, refer to page 1304...Here we are. If the perpetrators are in school uniforms, you might be dealing with a rival school causing trouble."

"You found us!"

"What the hell?! How'd you even know where to look?!"

"Being unfamiliar with the area; the culprits will usually stay within a narrow parameter, after the initial kidnapping; somewhere secluded, but not far from the scene of the crime. If this is the case, turn to page 124. This bird's eye view map of popular hideouts may help."

"That guidebook is straight-up amazing! There's nothing Koro-sensei didn't think of!"

"No kidding, right? Definitely worth lugging around. We should take one with us everywhere," Karma said, his voice rising.

"THEY GOT ALL THIS FROM A GUIDEBOOK!!?"

"Alright, so what's it gonna be, gentlemen; fight or flight? We'll go easy if you back down now, but after all, you've put us through, you're not getting out of this unscaved. And that's a promise."

"Tsk. Acting all badass. You're the same as that brown-haired bitch. You junior high kids crack me up. Why don't you say hi to some friends of mine? See how far that attitude gets you with them."

"UGHHH." Four guys appeared at the doorframe, yellow tentacles wrapped around their necks. They were barely conscious and missing a few teeth here and there. It didn't take long to figure out whom they belonged to.

Koro-sensei.

"Say hello to them if you'd like. Be advised though; they probably won't hear you."

"Koro-sensei!" Okuda laughed, turning around happily.

"Sorry, I'm a little late to the festivities. I figured it would be best to let you handle this on your own, while I search elsewhere. Just to cover all the basics." he announced with a black veil hung over his face.

"Umm... why exactly are you wearing a veil?"  
"Violence is never the answer. I'd rather you not associate my face with what I'm about to do... Good work following the instructions though, Nagisa! I'm glad I had the foresight to provide them!" 

"HOLD ON! THIS BIG FREAK IS YOUR TEACHER? THAT'S THE BIGGEST LITTLE BULLSHIT I'VE EVER HEARD!" the boys launched at Koro-sensei, empty bottles of alcohol in their hands.

"Such language. I command you not to use it in front of my students! AND UNLESS YOU CAN MOVE FASTER THAN ME, YOU'D BE SMART TO KEEP YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF THEM TOO!!"

* * *

“Ayami!”

The brunette shot awake, eyes wide open as she sat up. Her hand immediately shot up to her forehead, rubbing one of her temples in hopes to ease the pain. 

”Are you okay?” Koro-sensei asked, furiously waving with his tentacles, “I was worried to death! I healed your bruises and your hip, which WAS MILDLY FRACTURED BUT TELL ME RIGHT NOW IF YOU'RE HURTING ANYWHERE!" 

”I’m fine... What happened? Why am I so dirty?”

"Really? That's your first question?" Karma said, the tone of his voice unusually cold. It reminded her of the day where he snapped at her for not telling everyone she was anemic. 

"What? You have no idea how long it takes to clean this hair." she frowned as she pulled a piece of dirt out of her hair, standing up.

“You, Kayano and Kanzaki were kidnapped.”

”Ah, right... I remember. How did you find us?”

"Well... It seems that Koro-sensei's guidebooks aren't half bad. We looked up suspicious locations and beat the hell out those jerks with them." Sugino answered smashing empty air with the guidebook to demonstrate. "But, Man for a while there, I didn't know what was gonna happen."

"Should've just left me alone with the ring leader. I would've taken out the trash before the bastard knew what hit him."  
"We get it; you're a scary dude." 

"When did I pass out?"

"I woke up just a few minutes before they beat you up. You picked a fight with that guy." Kayano admitted. It seemed that most of the memories came back to her. "Oh. Right."

"That was dangerous! Why didn't you stay quiet?" Kayano asked. "He was high, Ayami. You can't mess around with these kinds of people."

"Okay."

"The grasshopper's right; no matter how much you wanted to bring him down, you shouldn't pick a fight if you're not in the position to defend yourself. I thought you were one of the smart ones." Karma said harshly.

"I get it. Can we stop with the lectures?" she snapped, a tick mark appearing on her temple.

"I AM NOT A GRASSHOPPER!"

Okuda laughed and Kayano followed her. Soon the entire group erupted into pure laughter.

"Ahh, I'm just glad we're okay. How are you holding up Kanzaki? You good?" Kayano asked.

"Sure, all things considered."

"I must say, you're handling this quite well, Most folks would've been traumatized by what you've just experienced. Yet you've shaken it off without batting an eye. In fact, I dare say this whole experience empowered you." 

"Well, you know; I guess it has. Thanks for coming to the rescue."

"Don't mention it. IHIIHIHIHHIHIHIHIH. Why don't we carry on with our field trip boys and girls?"

"Ah dang it! We never got to try our assassination plan." Sugino remembered.

"Well, it really isn't the time or place for that now,"

"Whatever. We'll just try it tomorrow." Karma rolled his eyes and continued practicing his knifework on Koro-sensei, who kept dodging him.

"IHIIHIHIHIHIHIH, best of luck to ya!"


	8. Kyoto pt.2

"Wow damn! How the hell are you dodging all of those!?"

"This is getting a little embarrassing," Kanzaki admitted.

"Look at the way she handles that joystick, smiling like it's no big deal." Sugino threw his arms in the air, still shocked how his crush beat him during one of his best plays. And she still played like it was nothing!

"Oh wow! I had no idea! I mean who knew you'd turn out to be such a video game pro?"

"I kept it a secret. My family is super strict, they don't approve me wasting time on stuff like this. Lately, though, I feel like I'm over caring so much about they think. Well... what anybody thinks really. I used to get so stressed about how other people saw me. I always second-guessed myself. Then Koro-sensei made me realize; it's all about doing the best with what you have. Being true to the person you are on the inside."

"OH NO!! IT BLEW YOU UP!" Kayano exclaimed, a little disappointed that Kanzaki didn't break her record. But the girl only laughed it off. "Yeah. That can happen."

"You two sure got close. Guess that traumatizing moments bring people together, huh?" Sugino pointed out.

"Yeah, seems like it," they laughed.

Most of the boys decided to play a few rounds of ping pong and kill the time like that. It was now Takebayashi's and Mimura's turn to make fools of themselves while Kimura, Maehara, and Sugaya recorded them.

"Good save man." Isogai laughed as Mimura just lost a few seconds after that. "What!? I ALMOST HAD IT!"

The boys laughed and then looked over to the tired-looking man, sitting in the corner, reviewing his papers. He looked in a desperate need of a break.

"Hey, Mr. Karasuma! Quick game?"

The man gave them a small smile and got up. "You got it! But I'm warning you. I'm pretty good."

"I'm just gonna say it. This place is a dump! Why do we gotta sleep in two big dorm rooms, separated by gender? The kids in all the other classes get their own fancy suites."

"Personally, I think it's more fun this way-" Nagisa stopped in his tracks, staring at Nakamura and Fuwa who were tiptoeing to the men's bathroom.

"Hey. What are you guys doing?" Nakamura brought a finger to her lips, a mischevious look in her eyes. "Shh! What does it look like we're doing? We're trying to sneak a peek!"

"What?"

"Wait! That's supposed to be our job!" Okajima pointed a finger at his shocked face.

"It's nobody's job!" Nagisa corrected the class pervert.

"Either way, who can resist! Look at the way this outfit is hung. That can only mean one thing. We wanna see what he looks like naked. This may be our only opportunity. Does he have a proper body, or is it tentacles all the way down? And it's not creepy 'cause we need all the info on Koro-sensei we can get."

"We all agree that this isn't at least bit sexy?" Okajima muttered. Nakamura ignored the guy and opened the bathroom's door. Only to be met with not yellow, but PINK KORO-SENSEI!!?

"IS HE A CHICK!?" She yelled.

"Oh! Hello children!" He greeted them happily.

"Are you taking a bubble bath in a public restroom?"

"We're not supposed to add anything to the water, sir."

"Worry not! This is just my mucus."

"Huh?"

"On contact with water, it works up a nice lather and works as an exfoliant!" he explained cheerfully and continued rubbing one of his tentacles with a back scrubber. "So is that a pro or a con?"

"Hahah... Yea fascinating. But you let your guard down, sir. And we're blocking your exit. You'll come slopping out of that tub, eventually. And when you do, you'll have to walk by us. WE MAY NOT KILL YOU, BUT WE'LL SEE YOU NAKED!"

"THIS SIMPLY WILL NOT DO! MWAHAHAHA!!" the octopus stood up, a giant jelly-like square appearing around his body, making it impossible to see what he looked like naked.  
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?"  
"Jelly broth my dear! Now, if you will excuse me! NYUUFFUFUUHAHAHHA!!"

"... Alrighty then."  
"Well, that was lame. Can we peep on a woman next time?"

"Ayami's taking a bath right now if that's more interesting for ya," Nakamura said quietly, disappointment written all over her face. She probably didn't even realize it was Okajima she told this to.

"AYAMII-CHAN!! YOU'RE SO BEAUTIFULL!!" Okajima charged towards the exit, but Sugino pulled him back by the arm. "Woah there! Dude! Are you kidding me! Let's go back now!" Sugino started hitting the back o his shoulders in hopes for him to calm down. "AYAMI-CHANN!! I LOVE YOUU!!"  
"NAKAMURA THIS IS YOUR FAULT! WHY DID YOU TELL HIM THAT SHE'S IN THERE!?"  
"Travel sure brings out a whole other side of people, right? I know I'm learning a lot."

"Well, it sucks, cause we still don't know what Koro-sensei looks with all of his clothes down."

"Can we go back to the room now?"

* * *

Ayami had just gotten out of the bath and grabbed her towel and sat on the small stool in front of the big, wall-length mirror. She glanced at her reflection and stopped drying herself off. She stared at her feet, averting her eyes from her face. They looked huge in the mirror, even though they were small and bony like the rest of her body. Taking a deep breath, she let her gaze rise and she took in her whole body. Her eyes started to sting as she refused to blink, staring at the horrendous figure that gawked back at her. "Take a good look now." The reflection spoke. 

"TAKE A GOOD LOOK, AYAMI."

Just like that, hot tears spilled out of her eyes and her vision became blurry. The figure kept getting bigger and bigger. Ayami shut her eyes tightly and let out a pained whimper as her stomach growled. "Are you still hungry?! Even when you saw what you look like!" the voice howled. "How the hell do you think others feel when you show up in front of their faces looking like that! Looking like a fat, ugly cow with a big mouth! You weight 98 lbs. And it shows. Just look at yourself again. You..." the figure stopped for a moment, and took another look at the brunette and scanned her form head to toe.

"You disgust me." Ayami crossed her arms in front of her chest, trying to cover herself. "I'm sorry!" she bawled, shaking from the agony. "I'M SORRY!" she cried and brought her knees to her face, hugging herself.

"I'm sorry," she whispered again, tears still dripping through her tightly shut eyes.

"Sorry? That's it? Sorry isn't going to fix anything. You're so pathetic Ayami. I told you what to do so many times, yet you still failed me."

"I'll try harder," she choked out and opened her eyes to look at the reflection, which still sat there proudly.  

"I swear I'll do better...please, I-I need to go;"

"Do you want me to tell you one more time?" The voice was now calm and sweet; and the girl gave her a small, soft smile as her hand reached out for her. The brunette nodded and took a deep breath, wiping away her tears.

**_"Don't eat."_ **

"AYAMII-CHAN!! YOU'RE SO BEAUTIFULL!!"

_'Huh?'_

The girl who now had her head buried in her hands looked over her shoulder to the direction from where she thought the voice came from.

_'Is that Okajima?'_

"AYAMI-CHANN!! I LOVE YOUU!!" 

 _'He loves me?'_  A small light turned on in her heart. Too bad it died down as soon as the reflection got her attention again.

"HE'S LYING!" she turned back to the girl in the mirror and blocked out the other screams, her hand reaching for her, the look in her violet eyes blank, barely any sign of life left.

"Listen to me. I'm the only one you can trust here. I'm the only one who understands you. I know what you're going through, Ayami. Not them. They have no idea and it has to stay that way. You just have to play a little nicer. Be nice and skinny and they'll love you. Do you want to be adored again? Do you want people to love you again?"

 _"Do you want your father to love you again?"_  

Ayami immediately nodded. The girl smiled. Her voice was like honey and it made Ayami feel safe for a second. As if under a spell, she chanted: "Yes."

"Will you listen to me?"

"Yes."

The girl's smile only got bigger, and her violet eyes glimmered brightly for a moment. It was like she was putting a curse on Ayami.

_"Good girl. Remember, **don't eat.** "_

And just like that; she was gone. Ayami finished drying herself off and got dressed. As she brushed her hair, she took notice of huge bags under her eyes.

"Cover that up, will ya? You can't let anyone see you like that." the reflection spoke again.

Ayami sighed and reached for concealer in her toiletry bag, applying a light layer to get rid of the horrible color. "There we go," Then, she finally left the bathroom and joined the others in the launch. Some of her classmates were still playing ping pong, while most of them just sat on the ground, talking in a circle. She approached the group and quickly took notice of a plastic bottle in the middle of the circle. 

_'Be nice.'_

"Ayami! You sure took your time!" Kurahashi laughed and patted the space next to her signaling her to sit. She kindly accepted the offer and gave her a small, barely visible smile. "Yeah, I love taking long baths. So what are you guys doing?"

"Isn't it obvious? We're playing spin the bottle!"

"It's my turn now!" Maehara exclaimed with a smile, reaching for the bottle in the middle and spun it hard. Everyone held their breath, hoping it doesn't land on them. And as if the day couldn't get any worse for the certain brunette; the bottle pointed at her.

The class, of course, burst into laughter, some of the boys congratulating Maehara, some whistling and the girls screeching excitedly. Ayami, however, didn't move an inch. "I'M OUT!" she yelled instantly, her hands in the air and tried to stand up. She wasn't going to be _that_ nice.

"Oh no, you're not! You can't back out!" Nakamura sat her back down and winked. "It's only one kiss, Ayami." the brunette groaned as she realized she couldn't get out of this one. "Fine. One kiss."

Maehara kept getting closer, kinda unsure what to do. For sure, he was known as the playboy, but he had never gone out, let alone kissed a girl like Ayami. And he had no idea how she'd react. Would she slap him? He quickly got to her, closed his eyes and puckered his lips, leaning forward.

Ayami, however, wasn't planning on losing her first kiss to Maehara. So she smiled and quickly turned her head around, so his lips kissed her soft cheek. The class erupted into laughter. Maehara froze as he realized he's been tricked. He quickly pulled back. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Ayami laughed. "You should be grateful to even get an opportunity like that!"

_'Way to go. So much about being nice. That sounded like I'm a narcissist.'_

"PHAHAHA I GOT THAT ON CAMERA! YOU SHOULD TOTALLY SEE YOUR FACE RIGHT NOW!" Fuwa shouted, holding her stomach from the intensive laughter.

"IT'S DINNERTIME KIDS! Get your filthy little asses in the dining hall!" Professor Bitch yelled as she burst the door open her breast bouncing. Ayami laughed at the boy who still sat there with his lips puckered out; not sure how to react. She stood up and gave him a light pat on his shoulder and then walked away with the rest of her classmates.

"UGH!! I'm so hungry! After all, that's happened today, I think I deserve a bunch of food!" Kayano clasped her hands together as she sat down by the huge table filled with food. Ayami, who sat opposite of her, swore she saw how her eyes were replaced by two bright pulsating hearts. Or maybe it was just the dizziness. She hadn't eaten anything that day after all. 

"Here! Have some of mine!" she grabbed a piece of meat with her chopsticks, shoving it into her mouth. And the hearts in Kayano's eyes got even brighter. Ayami and some of the others laughed at the food lover. 

"How come you're so tiny if you eat so much?" Nakamura asked, stealing another piece of meat from Ayami's plate. The green-haired girl only shrugged and continued to chew happily. There was only one more left. Ayami glanced down at the fatty pork.

_'Where can I put you?'_

"Her metabolism is probably super fast." She stated and drank the rest of her water.

"You're the one talking. Look at you. You're so skinny! Wish I had a body like that!" Okano whined, scanning Ayami up and down, ignoring the way her shoulders tensed at her comment. "But I love food too much to go on a diet."

Ayami forced up another smile. "You don't have to go on a diet Okano! Your body looks amazing!"

Nagisa took a look at the brunette sitting next to him. He noticed the way she's been laughing with the girls and couldn't help but notice the way she changed. Not a lot, but compared to the way she was when he met her, she seemed more relaxed at talking to others, but...

"Hey, Nagisa! Karma says you love manga too! Which one's your favorite?" He turned his head to Sugino and the other boys and scratched the back of his head, admitting his love for Sonic Ninja.

"Really? Sonic Ninja? I never thought you as the type. Cool though. Did you know that the movie is coming out soon?"  
"No way! Really?!"

"Yeah, I think they'll be covering the first few volumes..."

Nagisa took another quick look at his classmate on his right. She fed Kayano her piece of meat, her violet eyes dark and bags underneath. Barely visible due to a bit of makeup, which he had no idea why she was wearing even after bath time; but they were certainly there. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but then his eyes widened as he figured it out.

_'Yeah, she looks a lot skinnier than before.'_

* * *

"Okay let's see the results... We'll only take a look at the top 5." Isogai stated, putting the paper on the ground.

"Kanzaki's in the top spot; no surprise there," Maehara stated as he saw the results of the popularity poll.

"Well, yeah; everybody likes her."

"I know; pretty slick of you to pull her into your group, Sugino."

"I was hoping me and she would have a chance to talk, but with all the crap that went down, no dice."

"Sucks to be you man. Better luck next time, I guess."

"Okay next; Yada."

"Of course, I mean she has _the boobs._ "

Yeah... most of the boys agreed on that. There wasn't much else to say. 

"Kanzaki and Yada are cute, that's a fact. What about Ayami? She's next."

"She's too cold. And she's way too mature. And a little boring."

"Boring? Ayami? She has most of you wrapped around her thumb. Have you seen the way Maehara fell for her?" Sugino laughed.

"Okay, that was hilarious. But hey, at least he got something out of it. Could be worse."

"Yeah, but let's just make something clear. I'm not into her. I was just terrified because you know... it's still Ayami we're talking about. I thought she was gonna slap me after. I was totally shocked when she laughed."

"True. She seemed way different today. Still, sometimes it feels like she's gonna kill you with one stare, but I guess you gotta get close to her."

"Like Nakamura and some other girls did? Have you seen the way she smiled around them during dinner? She was like a normal sweet chick!" The boys gave Sugino a blank stare. "Okay, it maybe wasn't much, but at least she's trying."

"You think she's into chicks?" Mimura asked out of the blue.

"Nah. I think she's going out with that student council president," Sugino explained.

"SERIOUSLY?!! SO I DON'T HAVE A CHANCE WITH HER?!" Okajima groaned in agony.

"You wouldn't even if she _was_ single." Maehara pointed out.

"Ehh, she is single. They're only friends." Everyone looked at Nagisa. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, Nakamura said he keeps following her around and always tries to get her back to the A-Class."

"What a creep. That must be so tiring."  
"No wonder she looks so pissed off all the time."  
"I don't think that's it. She went through some serious stuff, you know? From what I remember, she was like the sweetest girl in the school. Something like Kanzaki and Kayano."

"You kidding right!? There's no way she was that...cute."

"Well, what the hell happened then?"

"Wait, wait wait. First of all...Why do you know about that? Did she talk to you?" Maehara asked, suspiciously.

"Umm, I promised not to tell. And I probably don't even know all of it. So don't push me, I can't tell you."

"Okay, okay. So something _did_ happen." Maehara knew how his best friend valued his promises. He knew he was the person you can trust your secrets to. And he respected that a lot... Having a friend like him was definitely one of the best things that could've happened to him.

"But...dude, if she went from Kanzaki to... well that, something really bad must've happened."

"Dudes, you're killin' me. Can we just focus on who has the hots for who?" Mimura asked, taking the paper from the ground. Okajima started running around, holding his head and started screaming."Don't ask me to choose! I CAN'T DO IT! NOO!" 

"Nobody was asking you."

"What about you? which of the class shorties is your top pick, Nagisa?" Maehara asked the bluenette.

"Huh?"He tensed up."I don't really know." 

"Ah, come on Maehara; you gonna ask, you gotta tell." Sugino saved the poor boy, but the school's playboy only shook his head. "Sorry, no can't do; a gentleman keeps his secrets, fellas."

"Bitch move man. When I think about how popular bastards like you are, it drives me crazy!" Mimura barked at his face.

Karma suddenly walked in, holding a can of soda in his hand. "Sounds like a party in here," 

"Karma, great timing!"

"Which of the girls in our class do you like?" Maehara asked.

"Hmmm..." He took the paper and scanned through the names. "I believe I'll have to go with Okuda."

"Dude, you're kidding, really?" Sugaya asked, surprised.

"Interesting. But why Okuda?"

"She's a demon with chemistry. Think of all the concoctions she could brew up... it'd be a match made in heaven."

The boys scoffed, pulling him out of his fantasy. "Yeah, heaven; sure."

"Hey guys, before we continue we need to agree to keep all these ratings just between us, yeah?"

"Of course, we're not stupid." Maehara scoffed.

"So absolutely none of what we're saying leaves this room?" he scanned through his classmates, receiving quiet nods. "If this information got out, we'd have a... real problem." Isogai tensed up as he saw his teacher, peeking through the open door, his face bright pink.

"Don't mind me...." he said as he pulled out a blue notebook and scribbled something inside."Just passing by..." the octopus then closed the door quietly and disappeared.

the room was completely silent for a moment.

"OH NO, HE DIDN'T!!!"

They bolted after him, swinging their knives and yelling for him to come back.

He only laughed loudly. "MUHAHAHAAHHA IF I CAN'T GET A LOAD ON JUICY GOSSIP LIKE THIS, WHAT'S MACH 20  EVEN GOOD FOR!!!??"

_Meanwhile, in the girls' dormitory..._

"Eww, who wants to talk about boys?"

"Oh come on, that's what girls talk about on trips like these. Don't be a party pooper." Nakamura crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"I'll start! I have a huge crush on Mr. Karasuma!" Kurahashi raised her hand.

"Honey, there's no one here that doesn't have a thing for that man. I'm talking about the boys in our class that we think are hotties."

"Ohh..." she put her hand down immediately.

Nakamura rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I'll get the ball rolling. Isogai and Maehara are half decent I guess."

"Gross, you don't seriously like them?" Kataoka shot back.

"Why not? Maehara plays the field though, so I'd never actually go out with him or anything but Isogai's the class monitor so he's like the nicest."

"I don't know, Karma's the cutest of the bunch if you ask me." Yada cut in.

"TOO BAD HE'S SUCH A PSYCHO!"

"TRUE..."

Okuda, on the other hand, didn't feel that way. "Come on, I don't think he's that bad when you get to know him." 

"Hey, at least he's quiet most of the time." Kayano agreed.

Hayami though had an entirely different opinion."Yes, so are wild animals."

Ayami laughed at that. "Exactly. That's what I kept telling you when he arrived! Remember that octopus he stabbed in right in front of me?"

"But you seem like the closest to him, Ayami."

"Yeah, and don't you go on the same train every day?"

"Still, the more you get to know that guy, the worst-" she halted suddenly and remembered what that girl told her before. She was speaking bad of him. Again. What was wrong with her? "Ugh nevermind."

"Wait, do you have a thing for him?!" Okano asked curiously.

"What! No way. I just remembered I can't talk bad behind someone's back."

"Oh, please; who told you that? Besides, it's only us here. It's not like anyone's gonna tell on you." Ayami zipped her mouth as an answer.

"You know, you're pretending to be scary and all but you're actually really nice when it comes to it," Yada spoke. "I agree with you. Let's not speak poorly of our classmates. They're in this with us."

"Right...But that doesn't mean we can't talk about who likes who."

"Well, who'd you pick Kanzaki?" Kayano suddenly asked the class idol.

"I didn't really think about it, no idea, sorry." she shrugged. Kayano started tickling her. "Oh, please! Liar!!"

"We know you have your choice! They all worship you!" Others quickly joined in, laughing and holding her so she couldn't escape.

"Seriously you guys! Knock it off!" she begged, tears of happiness rolling down her cheeks.

The doors suddenly opened, revealing professor Bitch, holding a box of beer. "Okay girls! Settle down. I'm supposed to tell you lights out, so I don't know... at least pretend to be asleep?"

"Wow, Mrs. Chaperone huh?"

"We all know you're gonna stay up jibber-jabbering. Just keep the volume to a minimum. Okay?"

Kurahashi pouted. "Hang on! How come you get to drink beer? Meanie."

"I'm an adult sweetie. Adults get to drink beer."

"Why don't you stay up with us? You could tell us some adult stories," Yada suggested.

"Huh?"

Kurahashi clasped her hands together in excitement. "We'd probably get more out of them than in your usual classes!"

"WHY YOU TRASHY LITTLE GINGER-"

"Now now, don't let that get out of shape..." Yada smiled, setting her down on a pillow.

And so the talk began. A few minutes in, Ayami asked the blonde professor if she ever killed a woman.

"In all these years, I've only killed one woman."

"Really?"

"Yeah... she was my college professor. I liked her a lot. It was a shame when I got the orders to get rid of her."

"College professor?" Ayami's eyes widened. She killed her own college professor?

"Yeah...I can't remember her full name though. She was a really nice woman. Taught me a lot."

"How did you kill her?!" Kurahashi asked, her eyes full of excitement.

"Meh, just the same old trick. We were invited to the same party and then she offered to drive me home. I blasted her brain out in my living room after that. I still feel kinda bad. She kept telling me about her daughter. I must've destroyed a pretty nice family..." She hung her head. "You see girls, being an assassin is definitely not an easy job. You have to live with the guilt for life. Killing itself is not that hard at all. The thing that can mess you up the most is when you think of all the families you've destroyed. Imagine waiting for your mom for days; only to discover she's been killed by someone."

Ayami hung her head low.

_'Yeah...Imagine that.'_

"Wow, when you put it that way...Maybe it's not that cool."

"You've got a pretty big task in your hands. Do you know what the octopus has been doing all this time?"

She didn't get a response.

"HE'S BEEN BUILDING A FAMILY FOR GOD'S SAKE! I don't know much about him, but the thing I'm sure of is that he's lonely as hell. And I also know that it will soon fall apart whatever might happen. So I suggest you don't get attached too much. It'll hurt."

The girls went silent for some time. Then Yada spoke up. "Mrs. Jelavić, I get that we're on a mission here and you're trying to help. But I think you're a little too late. There's already a bond between Koro-sensei and us. You can tell us to shut down our feelings, but what would this accomplish? I mean this family is all we've got. Why not enjoy it until the end?"

"Yeah! Tell her Touka-chan!"

"Why don't you enjoy it with us? We can hurt later." 

Irina gaped like a fish. She was amazed at their positivity.

"By the way, how old are you?" Nakamura asked out of the blue.

"That is no question you ask a woman! But if you really must know; I'm 20."

"HUUUHHH!?!"

"No way! You're only 20?!"

"You look great, it's just... you're so experienced," Kataoka stated.

"I know right... And the whole black widow vibe..."

"Ladies, I wouldn't have gotten far in this line of work if I wasn't...WHO THE HELL JUST CALLED ME A BLACK WIDOW!?!"

"Late reaction much?" 

"Whatever. Point is if I teach nothing else, you should know sex appeal is skin deep and by the time you get it; it fades. In a place like the one I was born in, you learn that all too quickly."

"Professor Bitch actually said something profound for a change," Okano spoke.

"Feels like BS."

"I HEARD THAT YOU HUSSIE!" she growled like a dog.

"Oh, just ignore her! Tell us about all the rich men you seduced and killed! That's what we're dying to hear."

"YES! TOTALLY SECOND THAT!"

Professor Bitch put on a smug smile and started her story: "Well if you insist, but be warned; my life story might be a bit spicy for girls like you. It all began at the tender age of seventeen..." She looked around the girls who sat around her in a circle, until she gazed upon a pink-colored octopus, smiling and blushing; probably excited for her story.

"OH, I DON'T THINK SO PAL!!" The girls jumped as they took notice of their teacher sitting right next to them, tentacles crossed in front of his knee... well...other tentacles.

"YOU GOTTA LOT OF BALLS HELPING YOURSELF TO OUR GIRL TALK!"

"Awww, but I wanna hear your stories too! Why can't an impartial observer get in on this action?"  
"Huh! You never tell us about your love life! You wanna sit there and listen, fine; but give us the goods!" Nakamura pointed at him angrily.

"She's right! It's only fair!"

"We know you have a romance in there somewhere!"

"You like big boobs! You must at least have a crush on somebody!!"

"Eeehh... NYUUH" he disappeared in less than a second.

"OH NO, HE DIDN'T!!" the girls grabbed their knives and quickly sprinted after him.

"CATCH HIM! MAKE HIM SING AND CUT HIS THROAT!" Irina ordered, slashing the air with her green, rubber knife.

"THERE HE IS!" Koro-sensei heard the boys coming from the left and the girls were on his tail from the right. "COME ON! HE'S OVER THERE!"

"CRAP! Gotta think of something quick!" he tried to dodge all of their attacks and find a way out of the narrow hallway.

"You guys still trying to kill him? Assassination doesn't have a curfew, huh?"

Nagisa nodded at the comment.

He then disappeared again. Right into Mr. Karasuma's room. But of course, they didn't know that.

* * *

Kayano and Nagisa stood at the window together, staring at the moon. "This has been such a great trip, right? It's like we've all gotten to know each other." 

"That's true," he mumbled.

"Hmm? Is something the matter, Nagisa?"

"I was just thinking. You know how our trip is almost over? Even though it feels like we just got here? I'm kinda starting to feel the same way about life We're just learning about the world and it may be over soon."

"Yeah," Kayano admitted quietly.

"And even if the world isn't over by March, this class will be." Happy memories he made with this class flashed in front of his eyes.

 Kayano hung her head. "Right..."

"I wanna live big; to experience everything. To be a top-notch assassin. I just want my life to have a purpose, ya know?"

"I hear ya. For now, I'd settle for just one more school trip like this one."

"Me too."

_'Tonight, the curtain falls on our adventure in Kyoto. What a trip. Tomorrow, it's back to life at Kunugigaoka Junior High. Back to our Assassination Classroom.'_

* * *

Karma couldn't sleep that night. He went to bed just like the others did and fell asleep for a few hours, only to wake up again at 2 in the morning. He didn't have a bad dream or anything; that was for little kids. Sheesh. It was just... He wasn't even sure what was wrong. He tried to close his eyes again but saw Ayami. With a knife pressed to her throat. He groaned. Normally things like that don't affect him at all, but for some reason that image made his heart beat faster. And not in a good way. It made him worried about her. 

He knew she was probably fast asleep with the rest of the girls in their room, dreaming about her damn cat or something girly, but still. He couldn't get rid of that feeling. There was something wrong. He knew it.

_He had to go check up on her._

So, he headed for the girls' room. Damn. Why was he doing this again? _' I'm just gonna sneak a peek. I have to see her.'_ He was about to open the sliding door when he got another idea. He pulled out his phone and clicked on Ayami's number.

_Karma: 'Heyoo Princess.'_

_Karma: "You awake?'_

Not even a minute later, he got a reply.

_Ayami: 'Why the hell are you texting me at 2 am?'_

_Karma: 'Why are you texting back?'_

_Ayami: 'I have my phone on ring.'_

_Karma: 'Oh.'_

_Ayami: '-_-'_

_Karma: 'U ok?'_

_Ayami: 'Yeah, why?'_

_Karma: 'Come out.'_

Karma then heard a quiet curse through the wall. It went something like: "Fuck you, Akabane." And it made him chuckle quietly. About a minute later, the door opened. The brunette carefully closed it behind her and glared at the boy. "What do you want?" Karma took a look at the girl, examining her from head to toe. She seemed fine. Except for the bags under her eyes, but that was pretty normal. It _was_ 2 in the morning after all. She raised an eyebrow. "I couldn't sleep. Wanna put worms under someone's pillow?" his mischevious smile returned to his face once again.

"It's a prank, isn't it? You and the other idiots made a bet or something, right? If so, goodnight," she turned to go back in, when he grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Let's go and talk." 

His tone was way more serious now. Ayami got chills all over her body as he pulled her out to the garden.

_'Did he find out? Was he gonna tell?'_

"Karma! Stop. I'm tired and I wanna go back to sleep. Besides, it's freezing out here."

"It's just for a few minutes. You can go back later."

"Ugh fine. What was so important that couldn't wait until morning?"

"I was just bored."

Ayami didn't know if he was joking or being serious. His face was just completely unreadable at that moment.

"Are you kidding me?! You woke me up just because you were bored?" she questioned, too tired to scream. But that didn't mean she wasn't pissed. Did he even know how hard it was for her to fall and stay asleep? 

"Yep. And now that you're fully awake, you can just stay here and talk about some crap like always."

"What the hell...Fine. I'm here anyway." He ignored the girl and sat her down on a bench next to a cherry blossom tree. He plopped himself down as well, leaning back and stared at the moon for a while. "It's pretty huh?" Ayami breathed out. He nodded. "But I kinda liked the full moon better," she continued.

"Why?"

"It felt... whole. Now it's stuck with a hole. It's kinda sad."

_'It also reminds me of mom.'_

"That's how you see it. Things don't always have to be so negative ya' know?" he looked at the brunette, who tucked her hair behind her ear and then turned to him again, with an annoyed expression on her face once again.

"Then how do you see it, Mr. Sunshine?"

"As an opportunity. To fix it."

Ayami took a look at Karma. She never thought he'd turn out to be the optimistic one. She wasn't used to seeing this side of him. He looked calm and relaxed. Dare she say, he looked mature. And in peace. He wasn't sleepy at all, well at least he didn't look like it.

"Guess that what everyone keeps saying is really true. Traveling really makes you see a whole other side of people."

"What?"

"You've changed, Akabane. It's either that or you don't let people see that side of you."

Karma scoffed at her comment. "What side?" Ayami swore the saw devil horns grow out of his head again.

"The side which doesn't make you look like a psycho- Ah, nevermind, I think it's gone." He grinned mischievously at his classmate.

"You've changed too, you know," he admitted, stretching his arms to fight the sudden urge to sleep.

"You're not such a loner anymore. You're not hanging out with only Nakamura anymore. Did you have a good day today? How come you were so smiley?"

 Ayami opened her mouth to speak, but then closed them again. "No reason. Just thought that it would be better if I actually made some friends."

"So the great and mighty princess got lonely?" he asked, a grin on his face. "Of course not! I'm here in E-Class to get my reputation back up, not fool around with friends!"

"You said something completely different 5 seconds ago."

"I just changed my mind! I don't need to get along with everybody... I'll just hang out with...Hazama!"

"Hazama?" Karma burst into laughter. "Why her of all people?"

"Well for starters, she won't budge in my personal life and will give me space to breathe."

He stuck out his tongue. "But she seats near to me. Is that just an excuse to hang out with your favourite classmate?" Ayami groaned. "What is your problem?! Will you stop with your jokes, cause they're not funny at all." 

"Chill, Princess. You're so terrible at pretending to be mean."

"What? Did you talk to Nakamura?"

He stuck out his tongue. "Maybe!"

Ayami grpaned.

"Others may not see it yet, but people like Nakamura and I can figure it out in an instant. You're not good at being fake. Just be you. I bet you're not as bitchy as you pretend to be."

 "I hope not hahah," she gave him a small smile that quickly faded. Ayami felt a knot in her stomach. _'Just be me?'_ she felt like he wanted to be her old self again. Everyone wanted her to be her olf, cheerful self again. Gakushuu, Nakamura and now Karma. Is it really that hard to understand that she didn't want to be like that again? So vulnerable and perfect? Now that she looked back, she felt way better now. She felt in control now that she had the help of her new friend. She didn't want to be perfect, no. She just wanted to be loved. 

But people loved innocent and perfect girls. They loved girls like her old self. No, she shook her head. _'I want them to love me. The new me.'_  The mean and cautious self. Because that was the self that gave her a sense of security. She felt safe pretending. But not at pretending to be nice. It felt way too real. She was going to become this new persona she created when she entered this classroom. A girl who cared for others, but still had the cold aura around her. This was her now.

She could make friends the way she was too. Right?

"Are you okay?" he asked again, taking in her features. She looked... sick.

"What do you mean if I'm okay? Why wouldn't I be?"

"Cause you were beaten by a bunch of scumbags earlier. Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Nah. Koro fixed me up pretty well."

_"He's really that good huh?"_

"Yeah."


	9. Ritsu

"What an awesome field trip, huh?" Nagisa laughed as he and Sugino walked up the mountain.

"Yeah, no kidding. Too bad we go back to normal today." the boy sighed in frustration. Nagisa chuckled. "You call this normal?"

"Yo! Wait up, guys!"

The two boys turned around, meeting Isogai and greeted him with a smile. "Morning Isogai, how's it going?"  
"Did you get that email? The one Mr. Karasuma sent out to us last night?"  
"Yep."

"Something about a transfer student, right?" Sugino hummed and watched as Isogai reached for his blue flip-phone. "Hmm... seems kinda fishy to me. They're probably just trying ou another assassin." Nagisa agreed. "Weird they've got professional killers our age, don't you think?" 

"Maybe the teacher thing has gotten too obvious. We all saw how that cover worked out for Professor Bitch," the trio suddenly recalled the abnormal memories of that day. Their thoughts were interrupted by a sudden loud scream and an Okajima appearing in front of them out of nowhere. "HAVE YOU SEEN A PIC!?"

"DUDE! WHAT ARE YOU, A NINJA!?" Sugino jumped back, startled by his sudden appearance. The class pervert only ignored his question. "Naturally, I was curious. So I figured I'd hit Mr. Karasuma up for some photos, no? Ask and you shall receive!"

He shoved his phone under their noses, showing him a photo of a pretty cute girl with lavender-like hair, bangs, a green hair hoop on her head and bright red eyes.

"Wow, it's a girl?"

"And you've already made her your background," Nagisa mentioned, slightly creeped out by his classmate.

"She's really cute."

"Not just cute! Adorable!!" he sighed in delight and started dancing."AGHH! THIS IS THE ONE I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!"

"She doesn't look like an assassin." 

"Hey stop doing that! People could see you." Sugino asked, noticing the way Kataoka and Kurahashi passed by them, giving them cold looks.

_'Assassin or not, let's hope she's ready to be the center of attention for a while. Newcomers tend to cause a bit of an uproar in this class.'_

"Think she's here yet? My money's on _yes_. Let's go say hello." Sugino suggested as they reached the classroom door. "Just open it!"

As commanded, the boy opened the door, entering the classroom. But to their surprise, there was no sign of a new lavender-haired girl; only a huge box-like machine at the back of the class behind Hara Sumire's desk.

"Huh?" The trio looked around, seeing that their classmates' were as equally confused as them.  
"The hell is this?"

The screen suddenly lit up, revealing the same girl from Okajima's phone. "Good morning fellow students," she spoke in a monotone voice. "I am AIFA, which is an acronym for Autonomous Intelligent Fixed Artillery. And I am happy to be a part of this class."

_'It's come to this?'_

Shortly, everyone gathered in the classroom, including Mr. Karasuma, who walked in front of the board, a pissed look on his face. Seems like even he didn't know about this. "As you probably already figured out for yourselves; this is our new transfer student. The Autonomous Intelligent Fixed Artillery on loan from Norway."

"It's nice to meet all of you. Thank you for having me." AlFA spoke again before its screen turned black again.

'Mr. Karasuma is soo over it.' 

'Not making some smartass comments about this will be the hardest thing I've ever done.'

"THUYNYUFUFUFUAHAHAH" Koro-sensei laughed loudly, holding his stomach with one of his main tentacles and wiping his tears with the other.

"I'LL THANK YOU NOT TO LAUGH! THIS IS A SERIOUS DEAL. The AIFA is registered here as a part of the foreign exchange program. She'll be trying to kill you like everyone here. And as per our agreement, you'll have 0 recourse. No fighting back, no harming her in any way; the arrangement we have considering student safety, still applies."

"Mhmm. You and your government might be extending that arrangement a bit too liberally. But very well. Welcome to E-Class, Autonomous Intelligent Fixed Artillery!"

"Thank you Koro-sensei, I certainly appreciate it," it said again.

And so the class started. This time with a machine-like student. The Autonomous Intelligent Fixed Artillery kept it's screen black, probably not taking anything out of this class, but hey. Who could judge? It was a machine with a computer installed. It probably already knew the story they were discussing.

"Alright then, as we know; out of the three characters in our story, one is already dead," Koro-sensei explained, not paying much attention to the newcomer.

"So...How's it supposed to attack?" Kayano suddenly asked Nagisa, leaning over to him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, they call it a Fixed Artillery. Do you see any guns? Cause I sure don't."

"Hmm, yeah, good point."

All of their questions were suddenly answered as the AIFA pulled out numerous machine guns, loaded with BBs, preparing to attack according to a long-range of calculations that kept appearing on its screen. "Nevermind!"

"HOLY CRAP!"

"Fours shotguns, two machine guns, variable caskets of anti-me BBs! I applaud your reparability young lady, but out of concern of someone shooting their eye out, I'm afraid that the use of firearms mid-class is strictly prohibited!" Koro-sensei explained, all while dodging the thousands of BBs, heading his way. The last BB bounced off the piece of chalk he put in front of his head.

"Understood. The next round of fire will be aimed more carefully."

The green codes reappeared, probably making a plan for another attack. "Recalculating trajectory. Correcting angle. Entering auto evolution phase 5/28/02."

Koro-sensei sighed. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Stubborn, aren't we?"

The guns were reloaded with BBs and the AIFA tried to attack again, even though he dodged the bullets again. "An identical attack!?" Koro-sensei mocked, "What else can I expect from a computer?" As soon as he said that and bounced off the last BB, his left fingertip exploded. The class gasped, eyes wide in shock. 

She hit him!

_'Oh, dear. A blind spot!'_

"Left fingertip destroyed. Newly added secondary gun effective." The guns were folded back into the boxy-casing and the digital numbers disappeared from the screen. "Probability of neutralizing the target with the third attack: less than 0.001%. Probability of neutralizing the target with the fourth attack: less than 0.003%. Probability of neutralizing the target before graduation: minimum 90%."

Koro-sensei shrieked at the calculation.

"Be advised," the girl on the screen smiled for the first time. "The third attack is commencing now, Koro-sensei."

* * *

"Awesome. Now we get to clean up the mess," Maehara said sarcastically and started sweeping. "Hey, hot stuff. How about you help us out? You got a vacuum cleaner in there or what?" Muramatsu asked, tapping his hand on the box. "Fine! Be all stuck up!"

"Um, dude. She's a computer, just give it up."

It was lunch break and once the AIFA finished with the attacks, the students were in charge of cleaning up the mess it made. Ayami stood up from her seat and walked over to the Fixed Artillery, arms crossed in front of her chest. She was furious, annoyed and completely done with this crap. That was another thing that ticked Ayami off. It didn't even clean up after itself. How troublesome. Half of the day went by and she was absolutely done with this computer-girl. Every period, the AIFA tried to attack Koro-sensei at least 10-times, but she hasn't succeeded in hurting him again. Not after he learned about her method. That was the deal with Koro-sensei. Once he figures you out, you can't do anything to hurt him anymore. If things were that easy, this classroom wouldn't exist.

"Listen, computer-brain," the screen turned on again and Ayami glared at the emotionless face in front of her. "Yes?"

"Oh, so she listens to Ayami!? Why not me?!" Muramatsu complained.

"I don't think you'd understand such matters, but I'll try to explain it to you anyway. This is a school, you do realize that, right? If you're so hyped up about the whole assassination thing, then try to do it safely, as Koro-sensei told you. To be honest, I feel very annoyed and trapped here with you, and so does everybody else. So if you're gonna stay a little pain in our asses, don't expect us to stand by and do nothing. We're the assassination classroom, emphasis on the classroom. The only thing we have in common right now is assassination, but if you want to be a part of the class as well, you better start acting like it."

"Request denied. The main goal is to kill the target, meaning the decrease in the number of my attacks or any kind of change would also result in a decrease of probability in succeeding," it answered immediately. Ayami scoffed, jumping on Hara's desk and sat down, legs resting on her chair. Never in a hundred years would she imagine that she'd be picking a fight with a computer. But, there's always a new for everything, right? "Predictable. You are a machine after all. You don't have the free will to make this kind of decision by yourself. Believe me, a computer like you will never succeed in an environment like this. You can have ten more guns and ten thousand more BBs, but without our help, all of your effort and energy will be wasted."

"I disagree."

"Do you even know why your method isn't working anymore?"

"You may proceed with your explanation," she spoke, an empty document appearing on the bottom left corner. She was ready to take notes, huh? Ayami almost laughed at that.

Pathetic.

"Oh, so now you're interested in my opinion? Too bad. I don't have the energy to talk to you anymore. I can't seem to get through to you anyway," she shrugged her shoulders and hopped off the desk.

"According to your sudden change in tone and your body language, your confidence level rose significantly, meaning that one: you're most likely dissimulating or two: you don't have an honest interest to eliminate the target. Therefore I find you unworthy to take advice from." 

The screen shut down once again.

 _"How irritating,"_ she growled through her teeth, clenching her jaw.

"Did she just pick a fight with a computer?" Sugino sweatdropped.

"I think so-" Nagisa answered.

"Just let it go, Ayami. Let's go eat lunch." Hara tapped her shoulder, showing her the lunchbox she made and offered her a piece of meat.

Oh, God no. Not lunch.

"Yeah, okay. Sure."

After lunch, Terasaka duct-taped the whole thing, making it unable to take out the guns. "Koro-sensei. I cannot take out my guns in these restraints. I must ask that you remove them."

"Hmm," he scratched his head with his slimy finger. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Are you the agency responsible, Sir? These restraints are harming me. Clearly, your indirect violation of the agreement not to-"

"SHUT UP!" Terasaka yelled, throwing the tape at her screen. "It was me. Nothin' says I can't give you a hard time. Especially if you're gonna be a pain in the ass and shoot up the place every two seconds."  
"Why even bother trying to explain it to a machine, she can't understand you," Ayami scoffed and opened her book.

"It's nothing personal, we're going to free you after class is over," Hara reassured the new girl.

"You brought this on yourself, we're trying to learn here too. Give your program a rest."

The rest of the day went by quietly and the AIFA didn't even bother to turn on again.

* * *

In the late afternoon, Ayami changed into black running shorts and a blue sports t-shirt put her hair in a high ponytail and started searching for her dad's old basketball, making sure it was hard enough to work with. She grabbed a water bottle and a towel, shoved them in her bag and headed to the park. Pulling out her phone, she called Nakamura. "Hey, hey _ma amiga!_ What's up?"

"Since when do you know Spanish?" she questioned a small smile curling up on her lips. "Ahh, you see that's a long story. I'm actually a Spanish witch, cursing the men who come my way."

"Only the men?" Nakamura laughed. "Yep, you're safe. So, I repeat. What's up?"

"I wanted to practice basketball. And I figured you'd need some fresh air too."

"Welp, sorry girl, but I'm having a hot date with my bed, laptop, and pizza. So no, can't do. You're invited to tag along of course." Nakamura said, munching on her pizza. "Meh, thanks. I'll ask someone else."

"As you wish. But you'll regret it!"

"I doubt it. OK, see you tomorrow."

"Adios! Don't overdo it!" Nakamura sang, munching her pizza.

Ayami hung up and sighed, opening the E-Class group chat.

_Sakura Ayami: 'Anyone interested in practicing basketball right now?'_

_-Okajima Taiga is online-_

Oh no. Not good.

 _'ALONE WITH YOU??!! I'm TOTALLY up for it!!!'_ Okajima typed.

 _Sakura Ayami:' I meant GIRLS. You know, since the GIRLS' basketball tournament is coming up?'_ Ayami sweatdropped. Why did he have to be online?

_-Kataoka Megu is online-_

_Kataoka Megu: 'Ayami-san, that's 3 weeks from now.'_

_Sakura Ayami: 'I know, I just wanna be prepared. Don't wanna lose to A-Class.'_

_Kataoka Megu: 'You've still got time. Besides, I don't think anyone has the energy to practice basketball after today.'_

_She suddenly recalled the memories of today. The stressful shooting that AIFA had inflicted on Koro-sensei was pretty energy-draining._

_Sakura Ayami: 'Okay, you've got a point.'_

_Okajima Taiga: 'I can still get your rebounds!'_

_Sakura Ayami: 'Forget it.'_

_-Sakura Ayami went offline.-_

Whatever. She could practice on her own.

She put her phone next to her water bottle and jacket and started warming up. She tried some ball-handling exercises she saw on the internet and practiced that until she felt it was enough. Then she tried to do some shots from 15 different positions. And out of 200, she made 120. 

That's 60%.

 _"Not good enough!"_  A voice whispered to her, as she rested her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.  _'I know that already. I'll never be good enough.'_

But like her parents always said; hard work pays off. 

"Look who it is!" A loud voice called from behind. Ayami turned around and reached up to fix her ponytail. Of course it was him! Who else could it be? She wasn't even surprised anymore. "What are you doing here?" she glared at her red-haired classmate.

"This is a public park, isn't it? But to answer the question, I'm looking for delinquents. I wanna have some fun."

"Oh, of course you are. You're Karma."

"Wanna play?"

"No thanks. I don't wanna get injured. And your whole appearance kinda screams _I'm gonna give you bruises and break your bones_."

"Aww come on, _princess_. You're not scared, are you? I mean I'd understand if you were, I can be pretty scary. But I thought we were finally getting on friendly terms." She threw the ball in his head, her eyebrow twitched when he caught it with ease. She kinda hoped she'd give him a concussion and shut him up for good.

Not today, it seems.

"You're such a prick."

***

"So you actually know how to play basketball. That's surprising," Karma laughed.

"Well, that's the only sport that I'm good at. Would've been much better if I was good at fighting like you."

"That's not exactly a talent a girl should have," he eyed her and took off his blazer. It was really hot today and exercise made the heat really get to him. "What do you mean? We're supposed to kill the octopus and I can't even get close to Isogai when we're sparring. Let alone Mr.Karasuma." Ayami gave him a confused look as she reached for her water bottle and took a sip out of it.

"Do you want me to help you?"

"And why would you do that?" she laughed, crossing her arms in front of her chest. He probably only wanted to mess with her. 

"Well like you said. We are supposed to kill him. Why not? You _are_ pretty bad."

"That's not helpful!"

"Suit yourself," he shrugged. "Fine. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try." Ayami agreed, placing her water bottle back in her bag. She did need help with the training. And regular P.E. classes weren't enough. If she wanted to get better she needed some serious work. And who else to ask than the king of fighting? It certainly wouldn't be bad to know some self-defense tricks. She remembered how jealous she was of him for getting so close to Koro-sensei and how he made it seem so easy. He looked like he gave no thought to it and it seemed like it all came natural to him, but surely...he had to have some sort of a plan right? Something so twisted can't just pop in your mind like that. Maybe he actually put a lot of effort into this.

"Okay, try to attack me." As requested, Ayami tried to hit him with her arm but missed. Almost immediately, he struck back a few times and she luckily dodged all of his attacks. It would've been ugly if she hadn't. "You've got good reflexes. How long have you been playing basketball?" he asked.

Ayami raised her brow. "Why does that matter?"

"Just answer the question," he ordered, rolling his eyes. "Since I was a kid. Not seriously though. Just with my dad."

"Hmm. I think I know how to help. When you're in defense, what parts of your opponent are you most focused on?"

"Chest and waist."

"Same thing with fighting. Don't let your eyes wander. Be focused your opponent's core. That way you'll be able to dodge their attacks better." Ayami studied his words carefully and watched him demonstrate something.

It seemed _complicated_.

"Remember, balance is everything. Once you lose it. You're done." Her back suddenly collided with the ground. "OW!" she groaned in pain and sat up, rubbing her back. "How did you do that?" 

"There's a reason why Mr. K keeps yapping about the basics." he offered her a hand and pulled her up. "I know, it's like every other thing. I just need to work harder. I haven't been taking it seriously," she dusted the dust off her outfit and then straightened up again.

"I think you're way too serious about the whole thing. I mean basketball? The tournament is like a month away."

"I just needed some fresh air! Besides, why do you care?"

"I don't. Just sayin'."

* * *

"Autonomous Intelligence Fixed Artillery to headquarters. Execution of the second half of the daily tasks delayed due to unforeseen problems. Probability of reconciling problems independently: 0%. Probability of eliminating the target by the fixed deadline: significantly decreased. Requesting immediate assistance,"

"Don't go crying to mommy and daddy. They're the ones who got you into this pickle! Besides, you're a student, a transfer student at that; which makes you my responsibility. I realize it's no picnic being the new kid, but if we can just find a way to make the other boys and girls warm up to you-"

"What do you mean?"

"Can you understand why the other girls and boys are foiling your assassination attempts? For starters, they're here to learn and your methods are enormously disruptive. Secondly, if you happen to succeed, the reward money will go to your parents, not to them. So, letting you kill me, has no upshot for them whatsoever."

"I believe I'm beginning to understand, Koro-sensei. It seems I've been disregarding my classmates' interests," the octopus giggled evilly. "You are a fast learner! Not to worry, my dear! I have just the thing for you!" he said, holding up a RAM box with a few virus-free apps installed.

The next morning came by quicker than anyone would've thought.

"You think she's gonna be here again today? Sheesh." Sugino wondered, hesitatingly standing in front of the door and waited for Nagisa and Ayami to catch up.

"Probably," Nagisa said.

"What do you say we go and complain to Mr. Karasuma? It's freaking impossible to focus with that thing around."

"Just open the damn door," Ayami barked at the poor guy. "OKAY! OKAY! DON'T RUSH ME!"

Sugino panicked and opened the door. The trio stopped at the entrance, observing the AIFA.

"HuH?"

"Is it me or does she look like...bigger?"

The screen lit up again, this time bigger and full length- the girl was cheerful. "Good morning everybody! Hi there!" she greeted happily. She was wearing the school uniform, her eyes were now blue and rounded, giving her a kinder expression. Her voice was also more bubbly and she was standing in the middle of a flower park.

"Absolutely beautiful day today, huh?"

"I felt it might improve relations between you kids if I gave her a full-body LCD display. I threw in some uniform-modeling software too and also some improvements for her personality."  
"And I have to say the only thing better than this glorious morning is sharing it with you!"

"I think you went a bit overboard with the personality corrections! She's like a cuddly pink chihuahua now." Ayami commented.

"Oh don't worry Ayami-chan! I can help you become just like that in less than a month!"

"You wish," she rolled her eyes and pushed his head away.

"I also gave her a broader range of expression. It wound up costing me a bit over than what I budgeted for, but well worth the expense!"

_'How does a teacher drops this kind of coin on a student!?'_

_"THINGS ARE GONNA BE A LITTLE TIGHT UNTIL PAYDAY!"_ he choked, holding up a 5 yen coin.

"That's all you've got left?"

"Yes," he cried. 

"You should've thought about the consequences before," Ayami scolded him.

The AIFA suddenly became the center of attention. Her cheerful personality charmed her classmates, with some exceptions of course.

"It's like she got cuter overnight! How is that even possible!?"  
"Is that the same Fixed Artillery that tore up the place yesterday?"

"Don't be fooled, guys! She's still just a computer! The octopus might've given her an upgrade, but that's all. Her acting nice doesn't mean squat! Argh. Once a box of bolts, always a box of bolts. She doesn't even have free will!"

Her expression visibly darkened. "I see, well good point...I understand. We didn't get off on the right foot yesterday, it's my fault. You're absolutely right..." her eyes teared up and so did the background. Dark clouds started cluttering on the fake sky above her. "I am just a box of bolts!" She started crying and the rain started.

"Wow, way to go Terasaka," Kataoka said, trying to make him feel guilty.

"You just made a 2-D girl cry."

"WHEN YOU PUT IT LIKE THAT I SOUND LIKE A TOTAL DOUCHE!"

"Maybe I'm always speaking for myself, but... you ask me a 3D girl is not a woman until she loses that 3rd D," Takebayashi proudly announced, pushing his glasses up his nose with his index finger.

"YOUR FIRST LINE IN THE SERIES AND THAT'S WHAT YOU GO WITH?!"

"YOU CHAUVINIST!"

The AIFA wiped her tears away and smiled softly again. "I'll try harder. Koro-sensei told me to take your feelings into account and work through our differences. So I won't try to assassinate him without you. In fact, I won't do anything unless I have your full consent! That way, hopefully, you'll come to think of me as a teammate and a friend."

"Hear that? She's trying very hard! Be nice! And don't be fooled! Beneath that sunny disposition and adorable smile, her bloodlust is perfectly intact! I made sure of that!"

"Yaaay"

"If you still wanna kill me, I'm sure this young lady will make a formidable ally!"

_'Is there anything Koro-sensei can't do? I mean he just gave a machine the ability to make friends!'_

The classes continued as normal, with the AIFA gaining more popularity towards the end of the day. She charmed half of the class with her installed 3D printer and even promised Yada to make a bouquet for her. She beat Chiba in chess and told Fuwa everything about a certain manga, where there was this artificial intelligence which soon took over the world with some kind of electronic drugs. She even sent her the link to watch the anime.

"OH NO!" Koro-sensei suddenly yelled.

"What's wrong, Sir?" Nagisa asked. "We're the same personality-type!"

"Yeah, that's a bit of a stretch."  
"I upgraded her and this is the thanks I get!!? She's hoarding in on my spotlight!" He shivered in anger, pondering about what he could do to get his popularity back.

"LOOK, EVERYONE! I HAVE AN LCD DISPLAY OF SORTS MYSELF! CHECK IT OUT!"

A creepy human face appeared in the middle of his face. "BEHOLD, my unaccessible human face! Eh!?"

_"CREEPY!"_

A second later, he was sitting on top of his desk, crying his eyes out at Mimura's comment. "You could've put that a better way, Mimura!"

"Hey, guys! Let's come up with a better name for her!"

"Autonomous in Japanese is jiritsu. How about RITSU?"

"Ritsu...I love it! Call me RITSU from now on!"

Nagisa walked over to Karma, giving him a smile. "She might fit in after all."

"Hmm, well maybe. Terasaka still has a point. This new personality type is a program, nothing more. A machine doesn't have free will. Where she goes from here, well that's essentially not up to us. It's up to whoever made her."   

The next day Ritsu returned to normal again. To the cold, and the way she was before. Everyone was confused, when Mr. Karasuma explained that upgrades will be considered as Koro-sensei's violation of his agreement. And they were not allowed to restrain her anymore, or they'd have to pay damages.

"So if she's been like- downgraded....she's gonna spray the place with BBs again! All-day."

The AIFA prepared herself to launch her guns, and everyone in class prepared to cover their heads.

"Here we go," Koro-sensei whispered, his eyes glowing.

But to everyone's surprise, she didn't start shooting BBs but printed out numerous flowers like Yada asked the other day. The classroom was now filled with flower petals and the tense aftmosphere disappeared as Ritsu's cheerful voice came back. "You wanted me to make flowers, didn't you?"

She then explained that she copied the folder with Koro-sensei's upgrades in a safe spot, where their inventors couldn't have reached it and now she backed all the files up. "Does that mean...?"

"Yep!" her face appeared on the screen, a smile reaching to her ears. "I have free will and boy does it feel fantastic!"


End file.
